Moral Science and Separation of Church and State in the French Third Republic

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23531019
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Educaion
• Research Institution: Shokei Gakuin College
• Principal Investigator: OTA Kenji 尚絅学院大学, 総合人間科学部, 教授 (00331281)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ライシテ / ジュール・フェリー / フェルディナン・ビュイッソン / デュルケーム / 世俗的道徳教育論 / モラルサイエンス / フランス第三共和制 / 19世紀フランス型リベラルアーツ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This paper takes a detailed look into issues related to the separation of church and state in the French Third Republic and, in particular, the battle over moral education that developed from the debate concerning secularism. Following the enactment of secularism-related laws in 1881, 1882, and 1886, France witnessed the appearance of many secularistic, moral education philosophies that had rejected religious education as a legitimate component of a moral education. Based on the author’s research, the paper shows that in the moral education theory of the Anticleric/Republic Party, Durkheim's moral science, which he offered from an atheistic standpoint, existed in tandem with a theory of morality that was based on self-discipline and self-empowerment and which was, in fact, not necessarily the standpoint of an atheist but, rather, a theory that developed as a result of a liberal arts education and/or moral discourse.

Free Research Field

教育学　社会思想