Synopses & Reviews
R.M. Hare is one of the most widely discussed of today's moral philosophers. In this volume he has collected his most important essays in the related fields of religion and education, some newly published and others now inaccessible. The book starts with an exposition of his ideas on the meaning of religious language. There follow several essays on the relations between religion and morality, which have deep implications for moral education. The central question addressed in the rest of the volume is how children can be educated to think for themselves, freely but rationally, about moral questions, and the effects on society of failure to achieve this. Professor Hare argues that those who want to dispense with morality are in effect resigning from a vital educational task. Attitudes toward euthanasia and equality of educational opportunity are taken as examples of how our thinking can go wrong.
Synopsis
R. M. Hare is one of the most widely discussed of today's moral philosophers. In this volume he has collected his most important essays in the related fields of religion and education, some newly published and others now inaccessible.
Table of Contents
1. The Simple Believer
Appendix: Theology and Falsification
2. Religion and Morals
3. Are there Moral Authorities?
4. Euthanasia: A Christian View
5. How did Morality Get a Bad Name?
6. Satanism and Nihilism
7. Adolescents into Adults
8. Autonomy as an Educational Ideal
9. Value Education in a Pluralist Society
10. Language and Moral Education
Appendix: Rejoinder to G. J. Warnock
11. Platonism in Moral Education: Two Varieties
12. Why Moral Language?
13. Opportunity for What? Some Remarks on Current Disputes about Equality in Education
References and Bibliography
Index