Fundamental pillars of education, visual arts and character education

Abstract

The increased current interest in the field of character and moral education reflects the urgency of expanding those dimensions in education. Similar “socio-moral” objectives are expressed throughout the recent Icelandic National Curriculum Guide, implying a holistic and pluralistic educational paradigm shared with Aristotelian character education (ACE). In the section about the visual arts in the Curriculum Guide, these aims emerge through the focus on personal and social skills, self-knowledge, and general understanding of society as a dynamic construct. However, it appears that the articulation of the moral significance of education needs to be emphasized and clarified further, both at curricular level and within the school setting, thus allowing for a deeper and richer dialogue about the aims of education.

Central to ACE are Aristotelian Virtue Ethics; securing the necessary moral conditions for comprehensive character education. The primary concern of virtue ethics is the question of how to live a good life. Aristotle maintained that the good life involved the exercise of arête (excellence or virtue) and phronesis (practical or moral wisdom) which eventually would lead to eudaimonia (flourishing). Therefore, flourishing requires excellence that is fostered by the integration of reason and the emotions through practical wisdom. Rational cultivation of the emotions is a prerequisite for further personal development; the emotions serve as a compass in directing our desires and actions.

Virtue literacy provides pupils with moral concepts for further moral cognition and deliberation – assisting them in relating their own lives to the end of increased moral sensitivity. Although virtue literacy does not in itself guarantee moral conduct, it may nevertheless be considered necessary for it. Each virtue (e.g. compassion, honesty) is analyzed in terms of seven components: virtue knowledge, virtue perception, virtue emotion, virtue identity, virtue motivation and virtue reasoning – all of which are regarded as informing virtue literacy – and, lastly, virtue practice. These components can be addressed explicitly through the visual arts, as an artwork can reflect one or more of these components, allowing for deeper conceptualization through emotional arousal and cognitive reflections.

The cognitive role of the arts includes raising our awareness, providing us with a certain type of “informal” and non-verbal knowledge. Artworks give us a fresh perspective on familiar environments, allowing us to discern patterns hidden from view.

A strong connection between the visual arts and moral education has existed through the ages, and the visual arts have been considered educative in the broadest sense. Aristotle claimed that the educative elements of the arts resided in imitation (mimesis), which consequently appealed to the emotions through the rhetorical qualities of the arts. The beholder is informed about the lives and experiences of those depicted in an artwork by arousing emotional responses which, in turn, appeal to his concerns. Hence, artworks promote quasi-experiences through imitation, providing moral knowledge through collective and personal deliberation on the artwork in question. Such experiences can also be stimulated through the imitation or reconstruction of moral considerations and issues in personal artistic creation. However, to avoid indoctrination, the rhetorical qualities of the arts must be accompanied by critical thinking and metacognition.

Artworks can be categorized according to their messages and narrative qualities. This applies to a variety of artworks from different periods and styles. In some cases the artist’s own emotional experience is central to the impact of the painting, giving the narrative voice of the artist himself a greater value. Other artworks relate more to ideological and political dimensions, focusing on human rights, especially in the light of contemporary contexts, while yet other works rest on spiritual and religious foundations, addressing existential issues and our responsibility to other human beings.

Artworks can promote a deeper understanding of how to respond to the options we have in life, to consider consequences, implications, and not least, our character. These considerations suggest the highly complex and pluralistic nature of the arts that justifies their presence in education, allowing for pupils’ participation in the ongoing debate through confrontation with artworks and their own creativity. In general, giving moral issues an educational focus through creativity and pictorial/ philosophical analysis appears to be helpful in placing character on the educational agenda.