Philosophers have long insisted that a measure of goodness is necessary for happiness or human flourishing. These days, however, we hear many cynical comments about the purported unhappiness of the rich and wicked. “I'd like to be so unhappy,” a scoffer may comment on the wealth and high-living style of some enormously rich, not very nice person. Still, we know that the rich are not always happy, and the forms of happiness we admire — those derived from mutual relationships, respect in public life, inner serenity — require a depth of character and spirituality. As parents, we want our children to be good, not only so that they will succeed financially but, even more, because we believe in the connection between goodness and happiness.

Caring Relations and Character

Character education — the deliberate attempt to inculcate virtues — is the oldest and best-known mode of moral education. Now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, after a lapse of just a few decades, it has once more become popular. There are many thoughtful people, however, who object to the movement. Some dissenters doubt (with Socrates) that virtues can be taught at all; others object to how they are often taught — by indoctrination. Still others, while sharing the doubts just mentioned, feel that most efforts at character education start with a mistaken view of moral life.