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Chapter 1 11 them learn at their own pace. Note that this is still a question about ideals, i.e. what would be the best conceivable option for this teacher. These distinctions are referred to in chapter 3 as the difference between utopian idealism (ideally circumstanced ideal) and realistic idealism (however circumstanced ideal), which are two forms of ideal theory, and they are compared to nonideal theory. 44 The next logical question then is how the ‘however circumstanced ideal’ relates to actual practices. In the example of the teacher and her ideal classroom it is possible that in reality particular actual problems (e.g. having to teach 35 children, all from different cultural and social backgrounds, and no money for assistance), or inherent aspects of teaching (e.g. the complexity of the teacher- pupil relationship) prevent her from even approximating the (however circumstanced) ideal situation. The pressing concern here would be not ‘what is ideal given these circumstances’, but ‘how we can improve the actual, nonideal, situation’. This question lies outside the scope of this dissertation, but I do touch upon it in chapter 3. Whereas ideal theory is mostly concerned with questions about (however circumstanced) ideals, nonideal theory takes into account the actual, nonideal situation and suggests ways to make a transition from this situation, thereby addressing this last question. Four sub questions In order to be able to answer the central question of this dissertation, four sub questions have been formulated: • What characterises the concept of human flourishing (particularly as an ideal aim of education)? ( CH2 ) • How should we theorise about it? ( CH3 ) • How can we understand the existential risk of parenthood in relation to (aiming for) flourishing? ( CH4 ) • How should parents relate to flourishing as an ideal aim of education? ( CH5 ) The first question, as already discussed, asks how we can think about human flourishing and as such does the preliminary work of providing conceptual clarification on the subject of human flourishing as an aim of education. It also gives us a first insight in how the ‘effort-side’ of flourishing is central to the content of current theories on education for flourishing. The second question addresses what kind of theory current theories on education for flourishing are (i.e. ideal theory or nonideal theory), and what kind of theorising is being done, and 44 See Schmidtz 2016, p. 2.