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"Emotional Intelligence" in the Classroom? An Aristotelian Critique
Educational Theory
Short Title: Educational Theory
Format: Journal Article
Publication Date: 2006/02/01/
Pages: 39 - 56
Sources ID: 91161
Notes: Accession Number: EJ732865; Acquisition Information: Blackwell Publishing. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8599; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: customerservices@blackwellpublishing.com; Web site: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/jnl_default.asp.; Language: English; Reference Count: 0; Journal Code: APR2018; Level of Availability: Not available from ERIC; Publication Type: Academic Journal; Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Entry Date: 2006
Visibility: Public (group default)
Abstract: (Show)
A recent trend in moral education, social and emotional learning, incorporates the mantra of emotional intelligence (EI) as a key element in an extensive program of character building. In making his famous claim that the good life would have to include appropriate emotions, Aristotle obviously considered the schooling of emotions to be an indispensable part of moral education. However, in this essay Kristjan Kristjansson casts doubt on the assumption that Aristotelians should approve of the clarion call for EI, as understood by Daniel Goleman and the proponents of social and emotional learning, in the classroom. Various marked differences between EI and Aristotelian emotional virtue are highlighted and explored. Kristjansson argues that the claims of EI lack moral ballast and that when this fact is added to an existing heap of educational problems attached to the implementation of EI programs, educators had better rethink their reliance on EI as a model of emotion cultivation, and perhaps revert to the teachings of Aristotle himself.