Virtues and Vices in Positive Psychology: A Philosophical Critique

Kristján Kristjánsson

Sep. 2013 · Cambridge University Press

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Positive psychology is one of the biggest growth industries in the discipline of psychology. At the present time, the subfield of 'positive education' seems poised to take the world of education and teacher training by storm. In this first book-length philosophical study of positive psychology, Professor Kristján Kristjánsson subjects positive psychology's recent inroads into virtue theory and virtue education to sustained conceptual and moral scrutiny. Professor Kristjánsson's interdisciplinary perspective constructively integrates insights, evidence and considerations from social science and philosophy in a way that is easily accessible to the general reader. He offers an extended critique of positive psychology generally and 'positive education' in particular, exploring the philosophical assumptions, underpinnings and implications of these academic trends in detail. This provocative book will excite anyone interested in cutting-edge research on positive psychology and on the virtues that lie at the intersection of psychology, philosophy of mind, moral philosophy, education, and daily life.

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Kristján Kristjánsson received his PhD from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He has taught at the University of Akureyri, Iceland, the University of Iceland and the University of Birmingham, where he is currently Professor of Character Education and Virtue Ethics. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Cornell University, the University of Konstanz, St Edmund's College (University of Cambridge) and the Institute of Education (University of London). He has written six books in English and three in Icelandic. He has published numerous articles on topics in education, moral philosophy, and emotion theory in international journals. He is a member of the International Society for Study of the Emotions, and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Moral Education.