Ethics and Citizen Education: A Conceptual Approach from Kant’s Über Pädagogik

Abstract

Starting up with some brief lines about the need to reclaim the philosophical reflection on education—an issue highlighted by Axel Honneth in a short reflection on moral education—this article explores the link between ethics, citizenship, and moral education through Immanuel Kant’s lectures on moral education and pedagogy, given most at the end of his life and later published as Über Pädagogik (1803). The argument developed herein is further complemented by a reconsideration of some of the most fundamental ideas concerning morality and action, as presented in the Groundwork in the Metaphysics of Morals, with a particular emphasis on the third formulation of the categorical imperative which is of a relevant consideration in the context of this paper. Hence drawing from these Kantian texts, the paper examines the relation between ethics, citizenship, and moral education. In parallel, and based on a reading on the section dedicated to wisdom in the mentioned Groundwork, the paper proposes some general elements for conceptualizing and framing a theory of the omission of action as complementary to positive theories of action which have implications in morals and politics. Finally, this paper concludes by framing the scope of the interpretation offered, articulating action, omission, wisdom, and moral education.