Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/17449641003794173

Education as a practice in its own right (orsui generispractice) invokesquite a different set of ethical considerations than does educationunderstood as a subordinate activity – i.e. prescribed and controlled inits essentials by the current powers-that-be in a society. But the idea ofeducation as a vehicle for the ‘values’ of a particular group or party is socommonplace, from history’s legacy as well as from ongoing waves ofeducational reforms, as to appear a quite natural one. So much is this casethat the idea of education as asui generispractice may seem a bit eccentricat first sight. Some preliminary work is called for then to render intelligiblethe claim that education is indeed a practice in its own right, and toillustrate the original starting point this gives for an exploration ofeducational ethics. In undertaking this preliminary work, central themesfrom two major sources are explored and reviewed: Richard Peters’ well-known studyEthics and educationand MacIntyre’sAfter virtue. Thesuggestive merits of both works for advancing asui generisunderstandingof education and its conduct are identified. But crucial occlusions are alsohighlighted in the arguments of both authors, the recognition of whichmight have enabled their thinking on educational matters to venture onto adifferent plane. The kind of thinking that emerges from these investigationsas most promising for educational ethics is seen to differ in its key featuresfrom what the various branches of academic philosophy have to offer byway of ethical theory.