Gratitude, Ressentiment, and Citizenship Education

Abstract

Patricia White (Stud Philos Educ 18:43-52, 1999) argues that the virtue gratitude is essential to a flourishing democracy because it helps foster universal and reciprocal amity between citizens. Citizens who participate in this reciprocal relationship ought to be encouraged to recognize that ''much that people do does in fact help to make communal civic life less brutish, pleasanter and more flourishing.'' This is the case even when the majority of citizens do not intentionally seek to make civic life better for others. Were citizens to recognize the appropriateness of gratitude in these situations, the bonds of our democratic communities would be strengthened. In this paper, I examine White's argument more carefully, arguing that it fails to address adequately the difficulties that arise when we attempt to encourage the virtue of gratitude in our students. To address these difficulties, I turn to an unlikely source for democratic inspiration: Friedrich Nietzsche. In spite of his well-known anti-democratic sentiments, Nietzsche offers democratic citizens insights into the social value of gratitude. I argue that Nietzsche's ideas resolve the educational difficulties in White's argument and viably establish gratitude as an important democratic virtue that ought to be cultivated.

Why should I be grateful? The morality of gratitude in contexts marked by injustice

“…Furthermore, despite the framings by Fitzgerald (1998) and Jonas (2012) particularly, resentment and ingratitude or lack of gratitude should not be conflated as a matter of course.…”

Inovasi Pendidikan Karakter Bangsa Berbasis Nilai-Nilai Sejarah Perjuangan Pangeran Sambernyowo di Era Masyarakat 5. 0

“…Beberapa hasil studi menunjukkan bahwa persoalan nilai-nilai karakter sosial dan budaya sangat menentukan membentuk karakter lingkungan sosial. Beberapa perilaku saling tolong menolong diantara sesama warga masyarakat dapat meningkatkan hubungan dan kemajuan sosial (Jonas, 2012). Selain itu nilai-nilai pendidikan karakter yang bersumber pada budaya lokal juga perlu dikembangkan untuk penguatan pendidikan nilai khususnya pada masyarakat dan peserta didik (Muhammad Iqbal Birsyada et al, 2016;Muhammad Iqbal Birsyada & Permana, 2020).…”

Ingratitude: Greatest of the Vices?

“…In fact, it is a very lively area of debate, "a topic of great disagreement among philosophers" (Manela, 2016, p. 129), one of "striking philosophical disagreement" (McAleer, 2012, p. 55) with "raging conceptual controversies" (Gulliford, Morgan, & Kristjánsson, 2013, p. 287). Recent philosophical writings on gratitude have explored its contours and varieties, its historical evolution from an obligation and a duty to a virtue (Carr, 2013;Jonas, 2012), in particular illuminating its conceptual bases (Gulliford et al, 2013;Roberts, 2016). While psychology has generally considered gratitude to be a moral affect and a moral disposition, its status as a moral virtue appears to be more debatable in the philosophical literature (Carr, 2016).…”