Iris Murdoch and moral education: An initial conceptual framework and a practical example

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article takes up three interrelated elements of Iris Murdoch’s moral philosophy into an initial conceptual framework for moral education and explores a practical application of this framework to a lesson plan. The three elements are moral vocabulary, moral perception, and the quality of our states of consciousness. The framework constituted by these three elements suggests that moral education should enrich the moral vocabulary of students, sharpen their moral perception, and expand their consciousness. To provide a concrete example of what it would look like to advance these aims, the author shares their experience using Aesop’s fable The Fox and the Crow in community education programs with adolescents.