Nature vs. Nurture: Virtues in our Society

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Stephen L. Carter proposes that integrity and honesty among other virtues and morals were unintentionally taught to our society via religious scriptures, nonacademic lessons in public schools, and child rearing methods used by parents are in the “curriculum” of “character education”. Despite the differences of virtues in areas such as sectionalism, prejudice, and racism, "nurture" or rearing of a society with virtues such as honesty and integrity is best understood as "monkey-see monkey-do"-the “source of growth in children's cognitive, language, and social skills” (Kessenich, Maureen, et al. "Developmental Theory.").

In various religious scriptures there is a list of virtues and morals one is required to live by. For instance in Christianity, the Bible encompasses the “Ten Commandments” which by definition are “the divine rules of conduct given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai” (Merriam-Webster.com). For thousands of years the Ten Commandments were used as a list of such morals and virtues teaching each succeeding generation the importance of honesty, and integrity among others. They are such one example of a religion teaching principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character.

One can say, "Character education is as old as education itself." There is some truth into that statement as teaching character extends into prehistory itself. In Western philosophy, early Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle believed that happiness requires virtue; hence a person who wanted to be happy needed “virtuous amounts of character”. Socrates identifies happiness with pleasure and explains “various virtues as instrumental means to pleasure.” Plato on the other hand expands on Socrates’ theo...

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...20 Aug. 2011.

"Moral Character (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 15 Jan. 2003. Web. 20 Aug. 2011. .

"Moral Education: Information from Answers.com." Answers.com: Wiki Q&A Combined with Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedias. Encyclopedia of Education, by the Gale Group, Inc. Read More: Http://www.answers.com/library/Education+Encyclopedia-letter-1M-first-51#ixzz1VcmyE2YF. Web. 20 Aug. 2011. .

“Ten Commandments." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2011.Web. 19 August 2011.

"Taoism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 19 Feb. 2003. Web. 20 Aug. 2011. .

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