Abstract

The regulative ideal of being educated is construed through features associated with the conduct and aspirations of faculty in higher education. These features include autonomy of mind and its presuppositions in self-knowledge and ability to inquire. These features as well cover having the identity of an educated person, implying evaluation of the products of the mind in logic and language, motivation to maintain an education, and the deep convictions and attitudes characteristic of the academic, humanist, and scientist. Finally, these features encompass knowing how to apply professional methods in reading and evaluating professional literature, identifying what is potentially educative, seeking a deepening of values through value inquiry, and the application of values in a constructive manner. However, the most promising motivation is commitment to oneself. Other motivators, such as love of learning and curiosity, will be transitory. Commitment can be to prescriptions based on the features associated with the regulative ideal. These prescriptions would in turn comprise a rudimentary ethics for being educated.