THE PARADOX OF MORAL EDUCATION

Abstract

One of the most important problems in philosophy of education is known under the name of the paradox of moral education. The hypothesis from which we begin and the validity of which should be proved is reduced to the claim that this paradox arises when the basic categories of philosophy of education, such as autonomy, authenticity and the purpose of education, are assessed in the context of the metaphysics of free will, particularly in relation to the tacit libertarian premise on which these categories are founded. In order to overcome the paradox, this theoretical research examines in what manner Frankfurt’s hierarchical theory may sustain the basic categories of philosophy of education, i.e., in what manner the metaphysics of free will can help in resolving this problem. The interpretation of Frankfurt’s thought experiment and the logical analysis of the arguments in the basis of this theory about the hierarchical structure of the will, as well as examining the conclusiveness of the argument about the dilemma caused by determinism, will be the applied methods which will enable the examination of the proposed hypothesis. The research results will confirm the initial assumption according to which Frankfurt’s insights can be substantially used for overcoming the challenges of the dilemma of determinism and the paradox of moral education by enable us to define differently the key concepts of philosophy of education, which can no longer be affected by (meta)physical assumptions about the order of the world that we accept noncritically and that have conditioned the emergence of the paradox of moral education.

Keywords

• philosophy of education
• autonomy
• authenticity
• purpose of education
• hierarchical theory of the will