Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Moral Exemplarism as a Powerful Indoctrinating Tool

  • Regular Paper
  • Published:
The Journal of Value Inquiry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. See, for example, Nicomachean Ethics II, 1107a. For an overview of different varieties of ethics see Oakley (1996).

  2. For an overview of the history of utilitarianism, see Driver (2014).

  3. Here, I am using Ellington’s (1993) translation of Kant’s Grounding for the metaphysics of morals.

  4. The same, it should be noted, is true for previous versions of moral exemplarism.

  5. This should not be taken to imply that exemplarism does not also have a long tradition in non-Western philosophies. See Cottine (2016) and Kidd (2018, 2020).

  6. One could argue that, besides deontological and utilitarian approaches to education, exemplarist informal education could also be used to rehabilitate indoctrinated students. Although this is true, I believe that approaches relying on the principles of utilitarian and deontological moral theories would fare better since they would provide direct moral guidance to students – rather than rely on them to choose the ‘true’ exemplar over the one promoted by ‘evil forces’. Nonetheless, my argument does not hinge on this claim. No matter which approach is better at rehabilitating indoctrinated agents, it still remains that the theory of moral exemplarism does not safeguard adequately against the indoctrination and manipulation of agents’ moral reasoning by ‘evil forces’ promoting false role models and ideals.

  7. Here, it might be important to note again that there is no guarantee that such approaches (or any other approach for that matter) are going to help rehabilitate indoctrinated students – i.e. un-indoctrination is not always possible. This goes to show how big a problem it is that the exemplarist moral theory cannot adequately safeguard against being used for indoctrination purposes.

  8. For more on the problem of indoctrination in educational approaches to moral exemplarism (and potential solutions to it) see Sanderse (2013), Croce (2019) and Osman (2019). For a more general discussion of indoctrination in moral education see Merry (2005), Copp (2016) and Siegel (2018).

References

  • Annas, J. (2004). Being virtuous and doing the right thing. Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 78, 61-75.

  • Broadie, S. (1991). Ethics with Aristotle. New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Butterfield, F. (2018a). In my father’s house. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

  • Butterflied, F. (2018b). When crime is a family affair. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/10/crime-runs-family/573394/.

  • Carr, D. (2019). Moral exemplification in narrative literature and art. Journal of Moral Education, 48, 358-368.

  • Copp, D. (2016). Moral education versus indoctrination. Theory and Research in Education, 14, 149-167.

  • Cottine, C. (2016). Role modeling in early Confucian context. The Journal of Value Inquiry, 50, 797-819.

  • Croce, M. (2019). Exemplarism in moral education: Problems with applicability and indoctrination. Journal of Moral Education, 48, 291-302

  • Croce, M. (2020). Moral exemplars in education: a liberal account. Ethics & Education, 10, 186-199.

  • Driver, J. (2014). The history of utilitarianism. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. E. Zalta. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/.

  • Ellington, J.M. (1993). Kant: Grounding for the metaphysics of morals. Indianapolis: Hackett.

  • Hoffman, H. (1996). The triumph of propaganda. Providence: Berghahn Books.

  • Hursthouse, R. (1991). Virtue theory and abortion. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 20, 223-246.

  • Hursthouse, R. (2001). On virtue ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Kershaw, I. (1989). The `Hitler myth’: Image and reality in the third Reich. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Kidd, I.J. (2018). Adversity, wisdom, and exemplarism. The Journal of Value Inquiry, 57, 379-393.

  • Kidd, I.J. (2020). ‘Following the way of heaven’: Exemplarism, emulation, and Daoism. Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 6, 1-15.

  • Koonz, C. (2003). The Nazi conscience. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

  • Korsgaard, M.T. (2019). Exploring the role of exemplarity in education: Two dimensions of the teacher’s task. Ethics & Education, 14, 271-284.

  • Kotsonis, A. (2020). On the limitations of moral exemplarism: Socio-cultural values and gender. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 23, 223–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Louden, R.B. (1984). On some vices of virtue ethics. American Philosophical Quarterly, 21, 227-236.

  • McDowell, J. (1979). Virtue and reason. The Monist, 62, 331-355.

  • Merry, M. (2005). Indoctrination, moral instruction, and nonrational beliefs: A place for autonomy? Educational Theory, 55, 398-420.

  • Mühlberger, D. (2003). The social bases of Nazism, 1919-1933. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Oakley, J. (1996). Varieties of virtue ethics. Ratio, 9, 128-152.

  • Osman, Y. (2019). The significance in using role models to influence primary school children’s moral development: Pilot study. Journal of Moral Education, 48, 316-331.

  • Rentschler, E. (1996). The ministry of illusion. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

  • Ross, D., & Brown, L. (2009). Aristotle: The Nicomachean ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Sanderse, W. (2013). The meaning of role modelling in moral and character education. Journal of Moral Education, 42, 28-42.

  • Schmiechen‐Ackermann, D. (2018). Resistance. In A companion to Nazi Germany, eds. S. Shelley Baranowski, A. Nolzen, and Szejnmann C. W., 126-149. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

  • Siegel, H. (2018). Education’s epistemology: Rationality, diversity, and critical thinking. New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2019). Consequentialism. In E. Zalta (Ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/.

  • Solomon, D. (1988). Internal objections to virtue ethics. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 13, 428-441.

  • Voigtländer, N., & Voth, H. (2015). Nazi indoctrination and anti-Semitic beliefs in Germany. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, 112, 7931-7936.

  • Welch, D. (1993). The third Reich: Politics and propaganda. London: Routledge.

  • West, D.J., & Farrington, D.P. (1973). Who becomes delinquent? New York: Crane & Russak.

  • Zagzebski, L. (2010). Exemplarist virtue ethics. Metaphilosophy, 41, 41-57.

  • Zagzebski, L. (2015). Admiration and the admirable. Aristotelian Society, 89, 205-221.

  • Zagzebski, L. (2017). Exemplarist moral theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Download references

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Theodore Scaltsas and Renia Gasparatou.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 3 Charles Street, Dugald Stewart Building, Room 2.16, Edinburgh, EH8 9AD, UK

    Alkis Kotsonis

Authors
  1. Alkis Kotsonis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alkis Kotsonis.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kotsonis, A. Moral Exemplarism as a Powerful Indoctrinating Tool. J Value Inquiry 57, 593–605 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-021-09844-8

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-021-09844-8

Search

Navigation