Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T16:26:42.566Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 8 - The Capability Approach as a Foundation for Moral Education

from Part II - New Approaches to Moral Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2023

By
Lorella Terzi
Edited by
Douglas W. Yacek ,
Mark E. Jonas  and
Kevin H. Gary
Douglas W. Yacek
Affiliation:
Universität Dortmund
Mark E. Jonas
Affiliation:
Wheaton College, Illinois
Kevin H. Gary
Affiliation:
Valparaiso University, Indiana
Get access

Summary

Educating responsible moral agents is a central goal of democratic societies committed to the values of justice, equality, and the promotion of individuals’ well-being. How best to pursue the goal through formal schooling is, however, highly debated in moral education, due to reasonable disagreement on values and how to impart them. This chapter suggests that the core concepts of the capability approach provide an ethical framework which can fruitfully inform moral education. The approach’s core idea of evaluating individual well-being and the justice of society in terms of capability, or the substantive freedom to choose one’s valued life, together with the concept of agency and the importance of rational deliberation, set the ethical foundations for educating morally responsible citizens, who consider and treat other people as moral equals, care for social justice, and value their own and others’ well-being.

Keywords

capabilityfunctioningsfreedommoral agencyrationalitywell-beingjusticeequalitydemocracypublic reasondeliberation
Type
Chapter
Information
Moral Education in the 21st Century , pp. 136 - 150
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, D., & Reich, R. (2013). Education, justice and democracy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, E. (1999). What is the point of equality? Ethics, 109(2), 287–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brando, N. (2020). Children’s abilities, freedom, and the process of capability formation. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 21(3), 249–262.Google Scholar
Brighouse, H., Ladd, H., Loeb, S., & Swift, A. (2018). Educational goods. Values, evidence, and decision-making. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Crocker, D. (2006). Sen and deliberative democracy. In Kaufman, A. (Ed.), Capabilities equality. Basic issues and problems (pp. 155–197). London and New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Culp, J., Drerup, J., de Groot, I., Schinkel, A., & Yacek, D. (2022). Introduction. Liberal democratic education. A paradigm in crisis. In Culp, J., Drerup, J., de Groot, I., Schinkel, A. & Yacek, D. (Eds.), Liberal democratic education. A paradigm in crises (pp. vii–xiii). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutmann, A. (1999). Democratic education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Habermas, J. (1995). Reconciliation through the public use of reason. Remarks on John Rawls’s political liberalism. Journal of Philosophy, 92, 127–128.Google Scholar
Hand, M. (2018). A theory of moral education. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hart, C. S., & Brando, N. (2016). A capability approach to children’s well-being, agency and participatory rights in education. European Journal of Education, 53(3), 293–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedtke, L., & Zimenkova, T. (Eds.) (2012). Education for civic and political participation. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Khader, S., & Kosko, S. (2019). Reason to value: Process, opportunity, and perfectionism in the capability approach. In Kehler, L. & Kosko, S. (Eds.), Agency and democracy in development ethics (pp. 178–204). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCowan, T., & Unterhalter, E. (2012). Education, agency and deliberative democracy: Sen’s capability perspective. In Hedke, L. & Zimenkova, T. (Eds.), Education for civic and political participation (pp. 144–163). London UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. (2000). Women and human development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, M. (2006). Frontiers of justice. Disability, nationality, species membership. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press; Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. (2009). Education for profit, Education for freedom. Liberal Education, 95(3), 6–13.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. (2011). Perfectionist liberalism and political liberalism. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 39(1), 3–45.Google Scholar
Peppin-Vaughan, R. (2012). Education, social justice and school diversity: insights from the capability approach. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 17(2), 206–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peppin-Vaughan, R., & Walker, M. (2012). Capabilities, values and education policy. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 13(3), 495–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. (1974). A theory of justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Robeyns, I. (2017). Well-being, freedom and social justice. The capability approach re-examined. Oxford: Open Books.Google Scholar
Saito, M. (2003). Amartya Sen’s capability approach to education: A critical exploration. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 37(1), 17–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. (1983). Liberty and social choice. The Journal of Philosophy, 80(1), 5–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. (1985). Well-being, agency and freedom: The Dewey lectures 1984. The Journal of Philosophy, 82(4), 69–221.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1992). Inequality re-examined. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (2002). Rationality and freedom. Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (2003). Development as capability expansion. In Fukuka-Parr, S and Kumar, A. K. S (Eds.), Readings in human development (pp. 41–58). New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (2009). The idea of justice. London: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
Terzi, L. (2007). On education as a basic capability. In Unterhalter, E. & Walker, M. (Eds.), Sen’s capability approach and social justice in education (pp. 25–43). London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Terzi, L. (2008). Justice and equality in education. A capability perspective on disability and special educational needs. London and New York, NY: Continuum.Google Scholar
Terzi, L. (2014). Reframing inclusive education: Educational equality as capability equality. Cambridge Journal of Education, 44(4), 479–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terzi, L. (2019). Educational justice for students with intellectual disabilities. In Wasserman, D. & Cureton, A. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophy and disability (pp. 541–558). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Terzi, L. (2023). Autonomy and capability. In Colburn, B. (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of autonomy. London and New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Warnick, B., & Smith, S. (2014). The controversy over controversies: A plea for flexibility and for “soft-directive” teaching. Educational Theory, 64(3) 227–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warnock, M. (1997). School of thoughts. London: Falmer Press.Google Scholar
White, P. (2018). Close engagement of a collegial kind: An introduction. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 53(4), 633–635.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×