Abstract In this short essay I respond to Kevin Gary’s generous review of my book Reclaiming Goodness by considering his two main concerns, that I tend to conflate spirituality and morality and that I am not sufficiently sensitive to tensions between spirituality and critical thinking. I respond by noting that Gary has not taken adequate account of the distinction between deontological morality and aretaic ethics in the first instance and between the Aristotelian notions of Sophia and Phronesis, or pure reason and practical wisdom, in the second. Keywords Spirituality Æ Morality Æ Ethics Æ Critical thinking Introduction I am grateful to Kevin Gary for his thoughtful and sympathetic review of Reclaiming Goodness. He raises two substantive concerns: that I fail to adequately distinguish between spirituality and morality and that I am not sufficiently sensitive to tensions between critical thinking and spiritual education. I will consider each in turn. Spirituality and morality Gary summarizes my view as follows: ‘‘Essentially the current spiritual failure ... consists of the inability of modern thought to offer a compelling ethical vision. As a consequence, there is an absence of holistic ideals to live by. This accounts for the self-centered fragmentation of modern life, which has in turn lead ... to a gross instrumentalism that lacks higher purpose.’’ So far so good! Hanan A. Alexander chairs the Department of Education at the University of Haifa and is a research fellow of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. H. A. Alexander (&) Department Of Education, University of Haifa, Education Building, Rooms 431–437, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel e-mail: hanana@construct.haifa.ac.il 123 Stud Philos Educ (2006) 25:327–334 DOI 10.1007/s11217-006-9007-1 Spirituality, morality, and criticism in education: a response to Kevin Gary Hanan A. Alexander Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2006