Moral Testimony, Moral Understanding and Moral Education
Roger Marples (Independent Scholar)

(also live-streamed on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81813506541)

After a critical appraisal of epistemic reasons for the alleged asymmetry between moral and non-moral testimony, the paper relates testimony’s problematic status to moral reasons including the value of understanding (differentiated as it is, in the paper, from knowledge), aretaic considerations relating to character and virtue, together with autonomy and authenticity. Emotions are shown to have a crucial role in moral understanding and moral education, the concern of which should be with moral inquiry as opposed to exhortation. It concludes with a brief account of emotional education and the role of the arts in this endeavour.

Roger Marples taught for 10 years in primary, secondary, and schools for those with emotional and behaviour problems, after which he joined the Department of Education at the University of Roehampton where he taught for 40 years. He is the editor of The Aims of Education (Routledge) and, with Judith Suissa and Carrie Winstanley, Education, Philosophy and Well-Being (Routledge). His research interests are in Ethics, Political Philosophy and Aesthetics.

A paper is attached here.

For further inquiries: Yuxin Su (yuxin.su.16@ucl.ac.uk).

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