I argue that Rawlsian liberals should consider cardinal virtue habituation as a legitimate form of moral education and citizenship education in publicly funded schools. In Political Liberalism, Rawls acknowledges that a liberal government can and should promote certain virtues or traits of moral character in citizens, but only those traits that are justified by their conducing to the stability of the constitutional liberal democracy over time. I argue that the cardinal moral virtues—courage, justice, practical wisdom and moderation—are indeed necessary for democratic stability. Furthermore, these virtues are less likely to violate Rawlsian ‘neutrality of aim’ than some more robustly liberal programmes of moral and citizenship education. So cardinal virtue habituation should be a serious candidate for inclusion in the curriculum in publicly funded schools.

中文翻译：

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作为自由公民教育的基本美德习惯

我认为罗尔斯的自由主义者应该将基本美德习惯视为公共资助学校的道德教育和公民教育的合法形式。在政治自由主义, 罗尔斯承认，自由主义政府可以而且应该促进公民的某些美德或道德品质特征，但只有那些有助于宪法自由民主随着时间的推移稳定而被证明的特征。我认为，基本的道德美德——勇气、正义、实践智慧和温和——确实是民主稳定所必需的。此外，与一些更为稳健的道德和公民教育自由计划相比，这些美德不太可能违反罗尔斯的“目标中立性”。因此，基本美德习惯化应该成为公立学校课程的重要候选者。