The Good Life of Teaching: An Ethics of Professional Practice

What sort of work is teaching, and how does teaching shape the teacher? And why exactly do these questions matter within a ′helping profession′ where altruistic talk of service dominates? In addressing these questions, this book offers not only a new statement in the philosophy of teaching but also an important advance in professional ethics. Drawing on recent developments in virtue ethics, Higgins demonstrates why an ethics of teaching must prioritize the question of the teacher′s own self–enactment and self–cultivation, considering how the practice of teaching presents opportunities and obstacles for the teacher′s own growth. By examining the major theories of practical philosophy on the terrain of teaching, this book sheds light on long–standing philosophical problems about self–interest and altruism, personal freedom and social roles, and practical wisdom and personhood. With the use of close reconstructions and vivid illustrations, he offers a fresh appreciation of a variety of neo–praxis philosophers including Hannah Arendt, John Dewey, Hans–Georg Gadamer and Alasdair MacIntyre. A rigorous and accessible work of practical ethics, The Good Life of Teaching connects questions about the nature of teaching, teacher motivation and teacher education with more general questions about the relation of work to human flourishing. It offers a compelling vision of what it means to be a teacher, an indictment of the forces that compromise the practice of teaching, and a valuable account of how teaching can become a sustainable and self–fulfilling vocation.

Preface ( Richard Smith ). Acknowledgements. Introduction: Why We Need a Virtue Ethics of Teaching. Saints and scoundrels. A brief for teacherly self–cultivation. From the terrain of teaching to the definition of professional ethics. Outline of the argument. PART I. The Virtues of Vocation: From Moral Professionalism to Practical Ethics. Chapter 1. Work and Flourishing: Williams′ Critique of Morality and its Implications for Professional Ethics. Retrieving Socrates′ question. Modern moral myopia. What do moral agents want? From moral professionalism to professional ethics. Chapter 2. Worlds of Practice: MacIntyre′s Challenge to Applied Ethics. The architecture of MacIntyre′s moral theory. A closer look at internal goods. The practicality of ethical reflection. What counts as a practice: The proof, the pudding, and the recipe. Boundary conditions: Practitioners, managers, interpreters, and fans. Chapter 3. Labour, Work, and Action: Arendt′s Phenomenology of Practical Life. Arendt′s Singular Project. Defining the Deed. Hierarchy and interdependence in the vita activa. Praxis in the professions. Chapter 4. A Question of Experience: Dewey and Gadamer on Practical Wisdom. The constant gardener. The existential and aesthetic dimensions of vocation. Our dominant vocation. Practical wisdom and the circle of experience. The open question. PART II. A Virtue Ethics for Teachers: Problems and Prospects. Chapter 5. The Hunger Artist: Pedagogy and the Paradox of Self–Interest. A blind spot in the educational imagination. The hunger artist. The very idea of a helping profession. This ripeness of self. Chapter 6. Working Conditions: The Practice of Teaching and the Institution of  School. A prima facie case for teaching as a practice. MacIntyre′s Objection. Schools as surroundings. Chapter 7. The Classroom Drama: Teaching as Endless Rehearsal and Cultural Elaboration. Education as the drama of cultural renewal. A false lead. Teaching as labour, work, and action. Education, shelter, and mediation. Teaching as endless rehearsal. Teaching as cultural elaboration. Chapter 8. Teaching as Experience: Toward a Hermeneutics of Teaching and Teacher Education. Teaching as vocational environment. Batch processing, kitsch culture, and other obstacles to teacher vocation. The syntax of educational claims. The shape of humanistic conversation. Horizons of educational inquiry. Teacher education for practical wisdom. Index.

Chris Higgins is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he is also Associate Editor and Review Editor of Educational Theory . A philosopher of education, his work draws on virtue ethics, hermeneutics, and psychoanalysis. His scholarly interests include professional ethics and teacher identity, dialogue and the teacher–student relationship, liberal learning and the humanistic imagination, professional education and the philosophy of work.