Rethinking Resilience in Character Education: Insights from Literature and Philosophy

This timely volume offers a nuanced reassessment and understanding of resilience through the lens of virtue ethics and character education, presenting practical strategies for the use of narratives to implement a virtue-ethical approach to resilience in classrooms.

Highlighting the rich conceptual history that can be traced in a range of literary and philosophical texts, a diverse range of authors analyse what Plato, Socrates, Cicero, Augustine, Pizan, Montaigne, Weber, and Van der Heijden can teach students and teachers alike about resilience, self-reflection, and growth. The chapters provide a variety of pedagogical suggestions, discussion points, and reflection activities on how to use these texts in the classroom to encourage virtue literacy, engagement with virtuous role models, and an awareness of cultural influences on our understanding of resilience. The book provides a space for educational practitioners and students to engage with literary and philosophical texts that provide nuanced exemplars and insights into resilience, thereby encouraging students to construct their personal journey toward coping with adversity.

Novel in approach and rich in insights, this book will be of use to researchers, educators, and scholar practitioners in the philosophy of education, moral and values education, and citizenship education. Those interested in how literature can shape character and moral agency may also benefit from the volume more broadly.