Citation

Kristjánsson K. Educ. Citizen. Soc. Justice 2006; 1(3): 267-282.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1746197906068124

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The virtue of generosity - at least generosity in the context of world poverty - is conspicuously absent from most curricula in the field of moral education. This article explores generosity and its educational ramifications. I start by characterizing two types of persons who may seem to be generous but who do not really possess generosity as a stable character trait. I do so by dint of fictional characters from two well-known novels - Nick Hornby's How to Be Good, and Albert Camus' The Fall - showing how the protagonists of both novels ('the do-gooder' and 'the vain') fall short of true generosity. I then consider Aristotle's specification of generosity, and explain how Aristotle's generous person morally surpasses both character types. I finally address didactic issues - how to teach generosity - by highlighting the quasi-Aristotelian method of 'service learning'.