A Critical Examination of the Appropriateness of Characterising Character Education in Terms of the Incu1cation of Virtues

以「德目教學」界定「品格教育」之適當性探討

10.6151/CERQ.2012.2003.04

陳伊琳(Yi-Lin Chen)

品格教育 ； 德目教學 ； 德目錦囊法 ； 品格個殊化 ； 道德品格 ； character education ； the inculcation of virtues ； the "bagof virtues" approach ； the individualisation of character ； moral character

當代教育研究季刊

20卷3期（2012 / 09 / 30）

129 - 169

英文

品格教育研究者首先面臨的棘手問題便是「品格教育」概念本身，明確界定所探討的品格教育派別於是成為他／她責無旁貸的責任。筆者利用兩個現成的分類架構，挑選出最盛行、最富影響力的版本，即以「品格教育的根本義」做為批判性檢視的對象，一般是從「德目教學」的角度予以界定。相較於「品格」這個微妙、難以捉摸的偌大概念 ，「德目語詞」顯得較為具體、容易操作，因此論述焦點由品格轉向德目似乎是可以理解的，這同時說明了以「德目教學」界定品格教育的表面信度。然而，本文旨在論證為了品格教育更有成效地進展，這種（過度）簡單的界定所產生的一些疑慮與缺失，需要被納入充分考量與適度補救。首先，它容易給人「品格教育不過是「德目錦囊法」的翻版」的錯誤印象。其次，這種品格教育觀在強調培養各種殊德的同時，未能適當關照德目教學必然生成的後果－（道德）品格的個殊化與道德人格的多樣性。最後，有鑑於品格的多義性及其倫理意涵的首要性，筆者認為「品格教育的根本義」是可以證成的，惟須特別強調的是，精確而言，當代品格教育關心的是「道德品格」，而非「品格整體」。

A troublesome question that first confronts a researcher into character education is the concept itself. In other words, it is incumbent of one to specify the particular version under consideration. The purpose of this study was to draw on two ready-made frameworks for classification, of which the most popular and influential version, i.e. character education in a non-expansive sense, which is generally characterised in terms of the inculcation of virtues, is chosen as the target of discussion. In contrast to the elusive large concept of character, terms related to virtue are more concrete and easier to operationalise, and it seems to make sense to shift the focus from character virtues, and characterise character education in terms of the inculcation of virtues. However, the case is made that for character education to precede more productively, some misgivings and shortcomings of this (over) simplified characterisation needs to be taken into full account and properly remedied. The most important issue is that character education runs the risk of giving 也e false important that it is nothing more than a duplication of the ”bag of virtues” approach. Secondly, the cultivation of the various virtues is emphasised at the cost of paying due consideration to the inevitable outcome, namely, the individualisation of (moral) character and its sister thesis of the varieties of moral personality. Finally, considering the multiple senses of character and the primacy of the ethical sense of character, it is argued that non-expansive character education is defensible with the caveat that it is ”;moral character” rather than ”character as a whole” that is at issue.

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1. 陳伊琳(2018)。英國品格教育現況評析及其對臺灣品德教育的啟示。中等教育，69(4)，74-89。