Virtues in the Public Sphere: Citizenship, Civic Friendship and Duty

Description

Virtues in the Public Sphere features seventeen chapters by experts from a variety of different perspectives on the broad theme of virtue in the public sphere. Spanning issues such as the notion of civic friendship and civic virtue, it sheds light on the role that these virtues play in the public sphere and their importance in safeguarding communities from the threats of a lack of concern for truth, poor leadership, charlatanism, and bigotry. This book highlights the theoretical complexity of putting virtue ethics into practice in the public domain at a time when it has been shaken by unpredictable political, social, technological, and cultural developments. With contributions from internationally acclaimed scholars in the fields of philosophy, psychology, sociology, and education, this book highlights the main issues, both theoretical and practical, of putting virtue ethics into practice in the public domain. Split into three sections – "Virtues and vices in the public sphere", "Civic friendship and virtue", and "Perspectives on virtue and the public sphere" – the chapters offer a timely commentary on the roles that virtues have to play in the public sphere. This timely book will be of great interest to researchers, academics, and post-graduate students in the fields of education, character and virtue studies, and will also appeal to practitioners. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of contributors Foreword Introduction SECTION 1: Virtues and Vices in the Public Sphere 1. Virtue against sovereignty I II III IV V Notes 2. Reducing arrogance in public debate Introduction I II III Notes References 3. Moral education, skills of civility, and virtue in the public sphere Notes 4. Vice, public good, and personal misery 1 II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X Notes References 5. Patience, temperance, and politics Introduction What is a political party? Patience and temperance Contemporary, structural barriers to flourishing Notes References SECTION 2: Civic friendship and virtue 6. Is there a plausible moral psychology for civic friendship? A moderate version of civic friendship A moral psychology for civic friendship An expanded theory of civic friendship References 7. Populism and the fate of civic friendship Aristotle on demagogues, civic friendship, and reform The genesis of populism in the U.S. Aristotelian remedies Notes References 8. Education for living together in a diverse UK: A role for civic friendship, concord and deliberation? Introduction Fostering social cohesion: The recent educational context Aristotelian civic friendship Cultivating civic friendship and concord through deliberation Conclusion Notes References 9. Resilience and hope as a democratic civic virtue Introduction I Resilience II Hope: A brief and selective overview III Hope as a democratic civic virtue IV Resilience and hope as a democratic civic virtue Conclusion Notes References 10. Trust as a public virtue The nature of trust and its crisis Trust as a moral concept Trust as a public virtue Duties to trust Note References 11. Making citizens virtuous: Plato on the role of political leadership Introduction Education, virtue and leadership in the Laws The plan for the philosophical education of leaders Dialectics in the Laws Finding and cultivating virtuous leaders The relevance of Plato’s ideal for contemporary political leadership Conclusion Note Bibliography 12. Rethinking self-interest and the public good: American homeschoolers Introduction Data and method Self-interest The root of public goods Cultivating the common Conclusion Notes References 13. Fostering purpose as a way of cultivating civic friendship Project Wayfinder The Future Project Fostering Purpose Project Discussion Note References SECTION 3: Perspectives on virtue and the public sphere: Whypublic reason is not enough 14. Responding to discord: Why public reason is not enough I II Notes 15. Designing for dialogue: Developing virtue through public discourse Introduction Polarization and public dialogue in the U.S. Dialogue and virtue What do we mean by “design,” and how can it help? The power of framing Applying a design model to dialogue Conclusion Notes References 16. Virtù revisited Introduction in the republican tradition Machiavelli’s innovation Virtù domesticated The modern Machiavellians Notes Bibliography 17. Democratic change and ‘the referendum effect’ in the UK: Reasserting the good of political participation Introduction 1 Participation, education and politics as practice 2 Participation and the referendum 3 Division through democracy: referendums and the ‘tyranny of the majority’ 4 Recent examples from British politics 5 Conclusion: the future of participation Notes References Concluding remarks Index