Abstract
While the early Confucians were largely content to maintain the
rituals of ancient kings as the core of moral education in their time, it is
not obvious that contemporary humans could, or should, draw from the
particulars of such a tradition. Indeed, even if one takes ritual seriously as a
tool for cultivation, there remains a question of how to design moral education
programs incorporating ritual. This essay examines impediments faced by a
ritualized approach to moral education, how they might be overcome, and how
a ritual method could be developed in modernity. I contend that a Confucian
notion of ritual, particularly as elaborated in the Xunzi, is both compatible
with modern moral education and capable of making a distinct contribution
to moral education in terms of how rituals can be used to structure and
inculcate a shared climate of respect and humaneness both in- and outside
the classroom. Specifically, the ritual education method includes emphases on
inculcating moral fluency via symbolic practices and distinctions, training and
appropriately associating promoral dispositions, enhancing moral imagination,
and developing awareness of other minds. The model is thus a multifaceted
approach to moral education through (meta)cognitive development.