Teaching Children Ethics

can we only teach principles that are at their stage of moral development or can we bypass some levels? instilling them early and then explaining them later? or do some need to be dropped or upgraded as the moral development progresses

i don’t like lumping people with cognitive disabilities in with children but they are vulnerable populations for abuse and can have similar mental capacities depending on their cognitive disability, etc

prior art:

• It seems mostly to be left to teachers, and not philosophers.
• The Moral Development of the Child
• Can We Teach Ethics?
• https://www.prindleinstitute.org/teaching-children-philosophy/
• https://www.gse.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/parent_ethical_kids_tips_.pdf
• An Ethics Primer for Children
• Ethics and Children’s Literature
• Ethics for Children (Church of England)

secret keeping

• what if a teacher or trusted figure asks them to keep a harmful secret that endangers them or others?
• if you say don’t keep secrets then they could be snitches or otherwise unable to maintain healthy relationships with their peers or tell things that you don’t want them to tell other people
• you could probably talk about how danger or harm overrides other duties (kant wouldn’t like this answer?)
  • James Mahon, Kant on Keeping a Secret - PhilArchive
  • https://www.cato-unbound.org/2016/10/28/gregory-salmieri/kant-vs-white-conflicts-duty

duties to parents

• haslanger moral significance of biological ties
• does filial piety have moral basis?
• they are providing for you even if you didn’t ask to be alive—i don’t think you have obligations if they aren’t providing for you (well enough) but how can you really decide that

promise keeping

• this is important for social bonds and understanding duty more generally

telling the truth/not lying/bullshitting:

• try to say things that you know to be true
• admit when you don’t know something
• lying to protect others seems good, lying to protect yourself seems bad

stealing

• understanding personal property
• is stealing from chains less wrong or more permissible? i don’t think you have a duty to steal from chains
• don’t get caught—low reward high risk usually
• surveillance makes this harder

being nice or mean treating people kindly

• how to treat people as ends themselves

feeling good != good

• if stealing or killing makes you feel good you probably shouldn’t do it even if it makes you feel good