Virtue Ethics Working Group

Abstract

The Virtue Ethics Working Group will investigate the role of the virtues in students’ well-being, whole-person pedagogy, and civic engagement. Our goal is to develop and implement a longitudinal study to measure, analyze, and implement how the deliberate cultivation of virtuous habits, in conjunction with relevant study and classroom education, can develop moral, intellectual, and civic virtues among students, with applications to societal health beyond higher education. In these polarized times, the health of the body politic itself is at risk, with eroding public trust and epidemics of loneliness, drug abuse, and violence, including increased mental health diagnoses amongst students and a failure of public discourse to address public health threats and climate change. As scholars in education, psychology, and philosophy, the Working Group will examine classical and contemporary virtue ethics in philosophy in the light of recent work in moral psychology, neuropsychology of decision-making, and transformative pedagogy, all with the goal of designing, for further funding, a longitudinal study to test our emerging hypotheses. This study would investigate whether and how developing habits of virtue in the context of coursework at a university devoted to whole-person pedagogy can both increase student well-being and contribute to social justice. 

Members of the Working Group

• David Goodman, Counseling, Developmental & Educational Psychology Department, Lynch School of Education and Human Development
• Katie Harster, Philosophy Department, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
• Chris Higgins, Teaching, Curriculum, and Society Department, Lynch School of Education and Human Development
• Micah Lott, Philosophy Department, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
• Katie McAuliffe, Psychology and Neuroscience Department, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
• Marina McCoy, Philosophy Department, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences 
• Eileen Sweeney Philosophy Department, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences 
• Graduate Student Research Associate: Michaila Peters, PhD student, Philosophy
  

Presentations

• David Goodman, with Matthew Clemente, “A Morally Anemic Psychology,” 11th Annual Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues conference at Oriel College, Oxford University, January 5-7, 2022.
• Katie Harster, “Introducing Issues of Racial Justice Through bell hooks in an Introductory Philosophy Course.” APA Central Division Teaching Hub, American Philosophical Association, Denver, CO, February 2023.
• Gregory Fried and Eileen Sweeney, “Service Learning and the Education of Feeling: Contributions from the Middle Ages and Contemporary Application,” Makarios Conference: Character and Virtue in the Christian Tradition, Australian Catholic University, Rome, Italy, May 27, 2023 (Fried’s presentation delivered in absentia by Sweeney).
• Jeronimo Ayesta*, “Awe and Christian Character Education: Towards an Understanding of the Stages of Mental Prayer through Kristján Kristjánsson’s Account of Aristotle’s ‘Disenchantment,’” Makarios Conference: Character and Virtue in the Christian Tradition, Australian Catholic University, Rome, Italy, May 28, 2023.
• Jeronimo Ayesta* and Maria Gallego*, “PULSE: A Service-Learning Course to Promote Character Development in College Students,” Character and Virtue Education in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Madrid, June 28, 2023

Students Trained 

• 1 Undergraduate Students
• 6 Graduate Students
  • Michaila Peters, Philosophy Department
  • Jeronimo Ayesta, Philosophy Department
  • Daniel Howard, Philosophy Department
  • Maria Gallego Ortiz, Philosophy Department
  • Laura Santer, Philosophy Department
  • Shalini Gauta, Philosophy Department
    

Additional Accomplishments 

• On Feb. 21, 2023, the Working Group hosted a discussion with a delegation from the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues (University of Birmingham, UK) as part of their visit with the Lynch School of Education.