德行一體說對於品格教育的啟示 The Doctrine of the Unity of the Virtues and its Implications for Character Education

• Main Author: 陳伊琳 Yi-Lin Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Naitonal Taiwan Normal University 2013-12-01
• Series: Bulletin of Educational Research
• Subjects: 品格教育; 「美德袋」取徑; 德行一體; character education; the “bag of virtues” approach; the unity of the virtues
• Online Access: http://www.edubook.com.tw/OATw/detail.aspx?no=202510

對於以「德行教學」界定品格教育的常見質疑是：品格教育不過是被L.Kohlberg戲稱為「美德袋取徑」的翻版而已。為了消除這項疑慮，必須闡明各德行之間的關係。此論題過去是在具爭議性的「德行一體說」中被探討的。在為一種可信度較高的德行一體說辯護後，筆者歸結出該學說對於當前品格教育的重要啟示，包括：一、既然德行之間的整合是德行教學中必不可少的重要環節，則以分隔化的方式來教導各個德行是有問題的，尚須教導學生處理道德要求多於一種的複雜的道德情境；二、道德氣質的培養以及各德行所需的（評價性）知識的學習，乃是德行涵養的兩個主要任務；最後，「道德人格的多樣化」獲得該學說的支持，亦即，有德的人實際上是各具特色、多樣類型的，「道德品格的個殊化」這項重要議題也因而獲得彰顯。 A doubt often cast on the common practice of defining character education in terms of the inculcation of virtues is that it is simply a duplication of the “bag of virtues” approach, as derogatorily dubbed by L. Kohlberg. To dispel this misgiving, it is imperative to expound the relationship between the virtues, which was addressed in the controversial doctrine of the unity of the virtues in the past. After the author argue for a more plausible interpretation of it, some implications for character education are drawn in this study. Firstly, since the integration of the virtues is integral to the inculcation of virtues, it is problematic to teach the virtues in a compartmentalized way. Instead, it is necessary to learn how to confront a complex moral situation where more than one moral requirement is (are) demanded of the moral agent. Secondly, it is made explicit that the cultivation of moral dispositions and the learning of (evaluative) knowledge requisite for the various virtues are the two major tasks of the inculcation of virtues. Lastly, the unity thesis backs up the idea of the “varieties of moral personality,” i.e. virtuous people are actually of different sorts, and hence the important topic of the individualization of moral character is brought to the fore.