Truthfulness, open-mindedness and evidence: seeking the intellectual virtues in school mathematics

The intellectual virtues have been described by Sockett (2012) as including aspects such as truthfulness, open-mindedness and evidence. Building on the ideas of Aristotle and MacIntyre (2007), who called for a rediscovery of Aristotelian ethics in contemporary society, Sockett claims that these virtues are the mark of an educated human being and should form a central goal of education. However, neither Sockett nor others with an interest in education and philosophy have specifically identified how such virtues can be developed through the core disciplines such as mathematics. In this Discussion Group we propose to:

a) Introduce and discuss key concepts of virtue ethics, specifically the intellectual virtues;

b) Examine how the intellectual virtues might inform mathematics education, specifically mathematics curriculum;

c) Examine how mathematics education might contribute to broader goals of education, specifically the fostering of intellectual virtues; and

d) Commence an ongoing discussion of intellectual virtues in mathematics education, leading to the presentation and publication of papers in mathematics education and educational philosophy conferences and journals.