ONLINE FIRST
published on May 11, 2023
Wim Laven
https://doi.org/10.5840/acorn20235924
Daring to be Good
The Moral Demands of ¡°Meaningful Political Citizenship¡± in the Life and Teachings of Bat-Ami Bar On
In this tribute to the life and work of philosopher Bat-Ami Bar On, I start by describing what daring to be good looks like. I present engagement with good and evil as a dilemma, one that I believe Bar On¡¯s work overcomes. In the experience of evil in the world, people can make good decisions with incomplete information and uncertainty, or people can experience atrocity in bold relief and remain apathetic. We should understand the causes and motivations for both. I make suggestions about how we can bring these visions into the classroom with the critical, engaged pedagogies of Paolo Freire and David A. Kolb, concluding with a return to the idea of philosophy as political action. We are daring¡ªcourageous¡ªwhen we endeavor to do good, especially when the outcome is uncertain and/or requires sacrifice. In the end, I summarize Bar On¡¯s five-step method for confronting evil with meaningful political citizenship.