The Link between Moral Psychology and Ethics in the Moral Subject Curriculum: A Focus on Protagoras’ Virtue Education

Abstract

The moral subject curriculum incorporates various disciplines, such as ethics and moral psychology. This study integrates moral psychological, and ethical perspectives within the moral subject curriculum to ensure content consistency. The Korean elementary school’s moral subject curriculum integrates a constructivist perspective for moral psychological aspects alongside the virtue ethics theory for ethical considerations. We analyze the virtue education perspectives of Protagoras and Socrates to determine their compatibility with constructivism, with a focus on Protagoras. For this analysis, we set criteria for analyzing educational perspectives related to constructivism and objectivism. Based on these findings, we analyze the virtue education perspectives of Protagoras and Socrates to identify their distinctive characteristics. Ensuring consistency of content is essential for developing Korea’s moral subject curriculum.