Morally transformative experiences at the university: An epistemic approach to moral education

Abstract

Philosophers and educational scientists have long recognized that moral development is a matter of experience in addition to reason, but the university has a persistent tendency to teach morality in a strictly theoretical way. This article addresses concerns that ‘morally transformative experiences’ (MTEs) in education are not compatible with the university as a distinctly epistemic institute, and argues that these concerns are not justified. First, I argue that the university’s epistemic function entails that it should cultivate epistemic virtues in students. Then, I provide an account of MTEs and build upon Iris Murdoch’s work on moral perception to argue that some MTEs make an indispensable contribution to the cultivation of epistemic virtue.