The Relation between Altruism and Moral Training according to John White’s Views

Training is said to have different purposes. Within the philosophical framework of John White—the contemporary philosopher of education—the ultimate goal of training lies in “individual wellbeing which owes to the wellbeing of others. ” White, who has succeeded to accommodate his goal of the training system within national curricula in the UK, believes that in order for trainees to development morality, they need to target two things within their educational system: every child should achieve a flourishing life and should help others to do the same. This approach rejects the traditional view of education according to which only moral training is directed at others and other kinds of training and education are directed at one’s own interests. On this approach, all kinds of training are directed both at oneself and at others. It offers a solution to the philosophical dispute of self and other, and can formulate the basic problem of moral training—that of trainees coming to develop moral characteristics. In this paper, we elaborate the core of White’s theory, and then consider ideas of “egoism” and “altruism” as well as their relations to moral training, particularly in White’s view. We have deployed the descriptive-analytic method and library sources in order to examine propositions and uncover the relation between altruism and moral training. [1] [1] .This research is derived from the PhD dissertation: “The Place of Altruism in Moral Training: A Comparative Study of the Views of John White and Mortaza Motahhari.