" The Community of Ethical Inquiry" as a New Approach in Moral Education

The main aim of this study has been an analysis of the approach on Philosophy for Children (P4C) in comparison with other common approaches in moral education. To this effect, according to different aspects of human beings, the approaches in moral education were divided into approaches based upon belief, emotion, will and behavior, where the most important theories for each of them were explained briefly; the value clarification theory and Piaget-Kohlberg's moral development theory under belief-based approach, Gilligan's caring theory under emotion-based approach, the traditional Aristotelian theory under will-based approach and Skinner's behavioral theory under behavior-based approach were briefly explained, then the advantages and disadvantages of each, especially their criticisms from the perspective of Philosophy for Children, were discussed. Afterwards, we have attempted to offer a comparative study to show what similarities and distinctions exist between existing competing theories and Philosophy for Children's approach in moral philosophy, which briefly has been called “the Community of Ethical Inquiry”. Therefore, “the Community of Ethical Inquiry” is different from all approaches and theories in moral education and the founders of the program consciously attempted to provide a theory of moral education that also covers all aspects of human beings, embrace all benefits of competing theories, and prevent their deficiencies.