BEYOND SENTIMENTAL CIVIC EDUCATION

A familiar view of civic education is that it should make emotional al legiance to basic Political institutions its paramount aim and curtail social criticism as a potential threat to that allegiance. Civic educ ation so conceived is inimical to the political virtues that befit a l iberal democracy, even when democracy is understood in ways that empha size representation over participation. Nevertheless, critical reason may also seem to be an inadequate basis for political virtue if reason cannot nourish the affective engagement in politics that such virtue requires. A conception of political virtue is outlined that claims to give both criticism and emotional engagement their due, and the educat ional implications of that conception are explored in relation to the development of a sense of history.