This article presents "Learning to be Human", which John Macmurray delivered on 5 May 1958 as the annual public lecture at Moray House College of Education, now part of Edinburgh University. The key themes of the paper are ones to which Macmurray returned again and again in both his educational and his philosophical writing for over 40 years and…

We are pleased to provide the July 2012 edition of the Curriculum and Resource Guide for "The World As It Could Be" Human Rights Education Program. This program, is an outgrowth of a series of successful initiatives carried out since 2006 to educate and inspire youth and adults to further human rights for all people and have greater…

The current study examined how teacher beliefs about the tenets of Catholic Social Teaching (CST)--dignity of the human person, seeking the common good, and preferential option for the poor and vulnerable--affected self-described responses to student behavior problems. In-depth interviews with seven secondary Catholic school teachers were analyzed…

A recent survey commissioned by the American Red Cross about the attitudes of the post-9/11 generation toward the Geneva Conventions reveals that 59% of youth, compared with 51% of adults, believe that torturing the enemy is always or sometimes acceptable. The Geneva Conventions are at the core of international humanitarian law (IHL) and protect…

This case study examines the contours of culturally relevant pedagogy in an undergraduate preservice teacher education program for Jewish women. The case describes how the assigned reading of Albarelli's (2000) narrative of teaching in a Hasidic Jewish school, "Teacha! Stories from a Yeshiva", disrupts the classroom community,…

In 2005, the American Counseling Association (ACA) introduced a new ethical standard for counselors working with clients with terminal illness who are considering hastened death options. The authors' purpose is to inform counselors of the Death With Dignity Act and explore relevant ethical guidelines in the "ACA Code of Ethics" (ACA, 2005).

In this article, the authors share findings from an ethnographic study drawn from an evaluation of an after-school program directed by a Catholic diocese to meet the educational needs of children attending urban Catholic schools. The authors used critical research methods within the context of Catholic social teaching (CST) as a theoretical…

In this essay Gregory Bynum seeks to show that Immanuel Kant's thought, which was conceived in an eighteenth-century context of new, and newly widespread, pressures for nationally institutionalized human rights-based regimes (the American and French revolutions being the most prominent examples), can help us think in new and appreciative ways…

In this article, the authors review some contemporary cases where biotechnologies have been employed, where they have had global implications, and where there has been considerable debate. The authors argue that the concept of dignity, which lies at the center of such documents as the 2005 Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, the…

The three generations--Baby Boomer (born between 1946 and 1965), Generation X (born between 1967 and 1975), and Generation Y (born between 1976 and 2000)--have different styles of communication, yet teachers of all ages still have to work together effectively. Teachers can improve their relationships with their colleagues if they understand more…

In this article, the authors situate and make an argument for a humanising pedagogy in response to the legacy of a dehumanising past in South Africa. They describe the inquiry into a humanising pedagogy by means of mining stories of living and learning in South Africa. The authors explain how the meanings and praxis of a humanising pedagogy unfold…

This article investigates an emerging practice in palliative care: dignity therapy. Dignity therapy is a psychotherapeutic intervention that its proponents assert has clinically significant positive impacts on dying patients. Dignity therapy consists of a physician asking a patient a set of questions about his or her life and returning to the…

This article discusses the educational significance of the moral demand for respect. In "Ethics and Education," Richard Peters presents a conception of educational respect that was recently taken up by Krassimir Stojanov. This article responds to both Peters' and Stojanov's contributions and proposes another understanding of educational respect:…

Human rights are universally based on the concept of human dignity. Various international organizations are developing the theoretical, legal, and political framework for human rights. The underlying concept of human dignity is less disputed, but also receives less attention. This shortcoming is addressed by a worldwide group of scholars and…

The Capabilities Approach places dignity at its core, emphasising people as ends not means who should be enabled to achieve the plans and goals they have reason to value. Focussed on the entitlement of all people to flourish and to be treated with equal respect, we argue here that this approach lends itself to a consideration of ethical issues…