Skip to main content

Utility, Principle, Virtue

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Why Teaching Art Is Teaching Ethics

Abstract

Moral education as traditionally taught is fatally flawed. It speaks in general terms and presents general rules. It cannot provide the illumination of the ethical that young people need. But art and literature can do this, as argued by the prominent philosophers John Dewey and Iris Murdoch. They do not suggest simply teaching art as such, instead offering art as vicarious experience of moral choice and consequence best understood in terms of virtue. The young person needs to be able to see the good, not simply a calculation of it.

Beauty is truth, truth beauty.

—John Keats

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Rethorst .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Rethorst, J. (2023). Utility, Principle, Virtue. In: Why Teaching Art Is Teaching Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19511-2_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics