Intellectual Virtues: Toward a New Education of Character

Good schools do not just impart knowledge. They also foster good habits of mind. And yet, as the philosopher John Dewey pointed out, little theoretical or practical work has been done on just what is required to cultivate qualities like curiosity and humble open-mindedness, intellectual tenacity, and attentiveness—the intellectual virtues. Sir John Templeton agreed. In his book Worldwide Laws of Life, partially designed as an inspirational textbook for schools, he asks what is missing from the school curriculum, and cites William Wirt’s dictum: “Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts.”

This deficiency is set to change as a result of two interrelated projects supported by the John Templeton Foundation. The first, titled the Intellectual Virtues and Education Project (IVEP), brings together leading scholars from philosophy, education, and psychology to discuss intellectual virtues and their importance to educational theory and practice. The project is also holding a series of “pedagogy workshops” that will collaborate with practicing teachers to explore effective techniques for instilling intellectual virtues in students. An “Implementation Guide” will distill the findings of the project for practitioners who wish to incorporate an intellectual virtues approach in their own work.

“To our knowledge, this is a first in the field,” says Jason Baehr, the project director and associate professor of philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. “Now is the time for a project like this. There is a growing sense that education at all levels is neglecting students’ relationship to learning—their beliefs, attitudes, and feelings about thinking, and knowledge and understanding.”

A second project, led by Baehr and his colleagues, is even more cutting-edge. They will launch a new charter school—the Intellectual Virtues Academy of Long Beach, California (IVA)—embodying the intellectual virtues approach to education. This school will both benefit from the ideas and techniques generated by the IVEP and, simultaneously, test and help to refine them by putting them into practice. The IVA has already had its charter approved by the Long Beach Unified School District, and is scheduled to launch this September with 50 sixth grade students.

Third grade students recite a daily pledge to be “intellectually aggressive and humble” as part of the pedagogy workshop series.

“This is among the most exciting projects in the character development portfolio,” says Craig Joseph, program director at the Foundation. “Not only is the project designed to bring together philosophers who have thought deeply about intellectual virtues with education specialists and practicing teachers; it puts them in genuine conversation and collaboration with one another.”

Intellectual virtues have been recognized as an important part of a person’s character since at least the era of Aristotle, and there is growing interest in these virtues among philosophers today. To understand these habits of thinking is to understand the personal basis upon which education rests—from what motivates individuals to which skills are required to think well to how we develop capacities of discernment and judgment. “What we’re doing is articulating and implementing a terminological and conceptual framework that will allow excellent teachers to better understand, articulate, and practice what they’re already doing,” Baehr explains.

“When teachers ‘teach to the test,’ the de facto goal is often the short-term memorization of information or the rote application of rules or formulas,” Baehr continues. “Intellectual virtues aim at a different kind of understanding. It’s about educating the whole person—beliefs, attitudes, feelings, and other personal attributes.”

Intellectual virtues are related to so-called “soft skills” too, such as being careful, thorough, adaptable, and aware. It is these capacities that are often talked about in relation to the qualities employers want in employees so that they can thrive in the modern global and technological economy.

“In a lot of ways, good education has always been about facilitating growth in intellectual virtues,” Baehr continues. “Our project is predicated on the idea that there’s something important to be gained by a more thoughtful and intentional pursuit of this goal—one that draws on the latest research in education, psychology, and philosophy on intellectual character, virtues, and related concepts.”

Foundational Questions Institute Launches New Essay Contest

The Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) has announced its 2013 essay contest. The theme of this year’s competition, which runs in partnership with the John Templeton Foundation, Scientific American, and the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, is the physics of information—or as FQXi puts it, “It from Bit or Bit from It?”

The first prize is worth $10,000, and several other cash prizes will be awarded as well. Scientific American will also consider adapted essays for publication.

This year’s topic highlights the shift in physics from thinking about the science as a description of material objects and interactions to physics as a description of information about and in the physical world. There has been an explosion of interest in recent years about the links between information and physics. The big question, though, is whether information is truly fundamental or not?

The best essays are written by original, vivid, and creative thinkers who can generate debate and discussion. The judges seek to encourage rigorous, innovative, and influential thinking about these core questions in physics and cosmology. Contest entries must be submitted by June 28, 2013. Full details can be found online.

Who Will Win the 2013 Templeton Prize?

VIDEO: Templeton Prize Legacy: Mother Teresa (1973)

The winner of the 2013 Templeton Prize will be announced online on Thursday, April 4, 2013. Individuals can also follow the proceedings on Twitter via @TempletonPrize.

The Prize, valued at £1.1 million (about $1.7 million or £1.3 million)—the world’s largest annual monetary award for the past 40 years—honors a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works. The first Prize was awarded to Mother Teresa in 1973. She donated the proceeds of the Prize to the Missionaries of Charity, an organization she founded in India. Her life’s work is highlighted in this Templeton Prize Legacy video.

Last year, another Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, the 14th Dalai Lama, received the Templeton Prize in a ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The distinguished group of 42 former recipients includes other spiritual leaders, such as Lord Jakobovits (1991), Billy Graham (1982), and Brother Roger (1974).

Leading figures in the world of science, whose work sheds light on spiritual questions, have also been honored. They include a number of physicists, notably Martin Rees (2011), George Ellis (2004), John Polkinghorne (2002), and Freeman Dyson (2000). Remarkable humanitarians, including Cicely Saunders (1981), the founder of the hospice movement, and the writer and exile, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1983), are also Templeton Prize Laureates.