The Formation of Character in Education: From Aristotle to the 21st Century

253 Pages·2019·1.182 MB·English

by  James Arthur

The Formation of Character
in Education
The Formation of Character in Education: From Aristotle to the 21st Century offers
an introduction to the foundations, practices, policies and issues of character
formation historically. Following a chronological order, it charts the idea
of character formation in the Western tradition by critically examining its
precursors, origins, development, meanings and uses.
The book is based on the premise that current conditions and debates around
character formation cannot be fully understood without knowledge of the
historical background. It introduces many of the debates character formation
has generated in order to offer different perspectives and possibilities and uses
Aristotle as a lens to gain a better understanding of some of these positions,
particularly the theoretical goals of character formation. Chapters explore
character education from the classical period through the medieval, early
modern, enlightenment and Victorian eras to 20th century influences, ending
with a discussion of contemporary policies and themes relating to character
education.
This book will appeal to academics, researchers, and post-graduate students
in the fields of character and virtue education as well as the history of education.
James Arthur is Professor of Education and Civic Engagement and Director of
the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham, UK.

The Formation of Character
in Education
From Aristotle to the 21st Century
James Arthur
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 James Arthur
The right of James Arthur to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-20602-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-26246-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC.
It is character which builds an existence out of
circumstance . . . this is that in the same family, in the
same circumstances, one man rears a stately edifice,
while his brother . . . lives for ever amid ruins.
G. N. Lewes, Life of Goethe (1855)
In Memoriam
John Arthur
24th May 1931 – 3rd April 2019

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Definitions and models of character 8
SECTION I
Foundations 37
2 Classical foundations 39
3 Early medieval foundations 55
4 Early modern foundations 69
5 Scottish enlightenment foundations 85
SECTION II
Practices 99
6 The English public school and character formation 101
7 Victorian character formation 111
8 20th-century influences on character formation 125
SECTION III
Policies and issues 137
9 Contemporary policies and themes 139
10 Conclusion 160
viii Contents
References 175
Further Reading (History and Philosophy) 187
Appendices 192
Index 230
Acknowledgements
My grateful thanks to Aidan Thompson, David Lorimer, Professor Kristjan
Kristjansson, Professor Andrew Peterson, Professor Gary McCulloch, John
Spencer and Paul Watts for their reading and commenting on various chapters
of this manuscript.