Literature and Moral Theory

Literature and Moral Theory PDF Author: Nora H�m�l�inen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1501333186
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Literature and Moral Theory investigates how literature, in the past 30 years, has been used as a means for transforming the Anglo-American moral philosophical landscape, which until recently was dominated by certain ways of ?doing theory?. It illuminates the unity of the overall agenda of the ethics/literature discussion in Anglo-American moral philosophy today, the affinities and differences between the separate strands discernible in the discussion, and the relationship of the ethics/literature discussion to other (complexly overlapping) trends in late-20th century Anglo-American moral philosophy: neo-Aristotelianism, post-Wittgensteinian ethics, particularism and anti-theory. It shows why contemporary philosophers have felt the need for literature, how they have come to use it for their own (philosophically radical) purposes of understanding and argument, and thus how this turn toward literature can be used for the benefit of a moral philosophy which is alive to the varieties of lived morality.

Literature and Moral Understanding

Literature and Moral Understanding PDF Author: Frank Palmer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
How can we be morally concerned with fiction? What does our experience of literature contribute to our capacity for moral understanding? This study of the relation of art to morality presents a defence of the humane value of art and explores the moral dimension of culture.

Moral Dilemmas and Moral Theory

Moral Dilemmas and Moral Theory PDF Author: H. E. Mason
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195357124
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Do moral dilemmas truly exist? What counts as a moral dilemma? Can an adequate moral theory admit the possibility of genuine conflicts of moral obligations? In this book, twelve prominent moral theorists examine these and other questions from a wide variety of philosophical perspectives. Concerned throughout with the implications of moral dilemmas for moral theory, this collection of essays captures in striking fashion the full scope and vitality of the current moral dilemmas debate. Including both realist and anti-realist meta-ethical positions, and Kantian and consequentialist normative views, Moral Dilemmas and Moral Theory sheds new light on several standing controversies in moral philosophy while raising a fresh set of challenging issues. Contributors include Simon Blackburn, Ruth Barcan Marcus, Alan Donagan, Terrance McConnell, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Mary Mothersill, Norman Dahl, David Brink, Peter Railton, Thomas E. Hill, Jr., Christopher Gowans, and H.E. Mason.

On Moral Personhood

On Moral Personhood PDF Author: Richard Eldridge
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226203164
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
In this remarkable blend of sophisticated philosophical analysis and close reading of literary texts, Richard Eldridge presents a convincing argument that literature is the most important and richest source of insights in favor of a historicized Kantian moral philosophy. He effectively demonstrates that only through the interpretation of narratives can we test our capacities as persons for acknowledging the moral laws as a formula of value and for acting according to it. Eldridge presents an extensive new interpretation of Kantian ethics that is deeply informed by Kant's aesthetics. He defends a revised version of Kantian universalism and a Kantian conception of the content of morality. Eldridge then turns to literature armed not with any a priori theory but with an interpretive stance inspired by Hegel's phenomenology of self-understanding, more or less naturalized, and by Wittgenstein's work on self-understanding as ongoing narrative-interpretive activity, a stance that yields Kantian results about the universal demands our nature places on itself. Eldridge goes on to present readings of novels by Conrad and Austen and poetry by Wordsworth and Coleridge. In each text protagonists are seen to be struggling with moral conflicts and for self-understanding as moral persons. The route toward partial resolution of their conflicts is seen to involve multiple and ongoing activities of reading and interpreting. The result of this kind of interpretation is that such literature—literature that portrays protagonists as themselves readers and interpreters of human capacities for morality—is a primary source for the development of morally significant self-understanding. We see in the careers of these protagonists that there can be genuine and fruitful moral deliberation and valuable action, while also seeing how situated and partial any understanding and achievement of value must remain. On Moral Personhood at once delineates the moral nature of persons; shows various conditions of the ongoing, contextualized, partial acknowledgment of that nature and of the exercise of the capacities that define it; and enacts an important way of reading literature in relation to moral problems. Eldridge's work will be important reading for moral philosophers (especially those concerned with Kant, Hegel, and issues dividing moral particularists from moral universalists), literary theorists (especially those concerned with the value of literature and its relation to philosophy and to moral problems), and readers and critics of Conrad, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Austen.

The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory

The Oxford Handbook of Ethical Theory PDF Author: Professor of Philosophy David Copp
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0195147790
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Book Description
The Handbook is a comprehensive reference work in ethical theory consisting of commissioned articles by leading scholars. The first part treats meta-ethics and the second part normative ethical theory. As with all the Oxford Handbooks, the collection is designed to achieve three goals: exposition of central ideas, criticism of other approaches, and defenses of distinct points of view.

The Heart of What Matters

The Heart of What Matters PDF Author: Anthony Cunningham
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520226623
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
"This is a wonderful book--beautifully written, deeply moving, and philosophically well argued. I loved it."—Nel Noddings, author of Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education "This book gives us something all too rare in contemporary philosophical writing: a passionate, careful, deeply sympathetic and sustained analysis of some important literary narratives in aid of a clearly defined philosophical project. Whether one agrees with Cunningham's conclusions or not, his treatment of the texts is inspiring and illuminating."—Lawrence C. Becker, author of A New Stoicism

Moral Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction

Moral Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction PDF Author: Daniel R. DeNicola
Publisher: Broadview Press
ISBN: 1460406605
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Moral Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction is a compact yet comprehensive book offering an explication and critique of the major theories that have shaped philosophical ethics. Engaging with both historical and contemporary figures, this book explores the scope, limits, and requirements of morality. DeNicola traces our various attempts to ground morality: in nature, in religion, in culture, in social contracts, and in aspects of the human person such as reason, emotions, caring, and intuition.

Love's Knowledge

Love's Knowledge PDF Author: Martha C. Nussbaum
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199879486
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
This volume brings together Nussbaum's published papers on the relationship between literature and philosophy, especially moral philosophy. The papers, many of them previously inaccessible to non-specialist readers, deal with such fundamental issues as the relationship between style and content in the exploration of ethical issues; the nature of ethical attention and ethical knowledge and their relationship to written forms and styles; and the role of the emotions in deliberation and self-knowledge. Nussbaum investigates and defends a conception of ethical understanding which involves emotional as well as intellectual activity, and which gives a certain type of priority to the perception of particular people and situations rather than to abstract rules. She argues that this ethical conception cannot be completely and appropriately stated without turning to forms of writing usually considered literary rather than philosophical. It is consequently necessary to broaden our conception of moral philosophy in order to include these forms. Featuring two new essays and revised versions of several previously published essays, this collection attempts to articulate the relationship, within such a broader ethical inquiry, between literary and more abstractly theoretical elements.

Moral Development

Moral Development PDF Author: Elizabeth C. Vozzola
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317975073
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
A CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2014! This class-tested text provides a comprehensive overview of the classical and current theories of moral development and applications of these theories in various counseling and educational settings. Lively and accessible, this text engages students through numerous examples and boxes that highlight applications of moral development concepts in today’s media and/or interviews from some of today’s leading theorists or practitioners. Dilemma of the Day boxes help readers apply theory to real world situations. Each chapter concludes with discussion questions and further resources. Summary tables of theory strengths and weaknesses (Part 1) and tables that connect applications to their theoretical roots are provided in Part 2. Other highlights include: Provides an excellent resource for courses addressing the CACREP program objectives for Human Growth and Development. Emphasis on application helps readers make the connection between theory and moral issues of our time. Examines changes across time and experience in how people understand right and wrong and individual differences in moral judgments, emotions, and actions. Demonstrates how theory is used by today‘s helping professionals (Part 1). Integrates issues of gender and ethnicity throughout to prepare readers for practicing in a global culture. Chapter on global perspectives (ch. 6) reviews theories on the cultural aspects of morality including examples from China, Islam, Latin America, and Africa. Reviews the latest research methods techniques used in the field. Integrates classic work with contemporary guidelines for assessment and treatment. Highlights research on the moral and empathic development of antisocial youth, psychopaths, and individuals diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum. Each chapter in Part 1 provides a comprehensive overview of the theory under review, its strengths and challenges, and examples of how the theory applies to helping professionals. The theories covered include those by Freud, Piaget, Kohlberg, Rest, Gilligan, Nodding, Bandura, Turiel, Nucci, Haidt, and Shweder. Part 1 concludes with a summary of the key points and the strengths and weaknesses of each of the theories reviewed. Part 2 highlights promising applications of moral development theory in education and counseling. These include coverage of character education programs based on sound developmental theory and examples of how drawing on a deep grounding in moral development theory can help future counselors better evaluate their clients’ cognitive, emotional and behavioral challenges. The text explores specific approaches to helping clients with a variety of dysfunctional or developmental behavior problems like conduct disorder and psychopathy. Ideal as a text for advanced undergraduate and/or graduate courses on moral development or moral psychology or as a supplement in courses on human and/or child and/or social and personality development taught in psychology, counseling, education, human development, family studies, social work, and religion, this book’s applied approach also appeals to mental health and school counselors.

Kant, Duty and Moral Worth

Kant, Duty and Moral Worth PDF Author: Philip Stratton-Lake
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134627513
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
Kant, Duty and Moral Worth is a fascinating and original examination of Kant's account of moral worth. The complex debate at the heart of Kant's philosophy is over whether Kant said moral actions have worth only if they are carried out from duty, or whether actions carried out from mixed motives can be good. Philip Stratton-Lake offers a unique account of acting from duty, which utilizes the distinction between primary and secondary motives. He maintains that the moral law should not be understood as a normative moral reason but as playing a transcendental role. Thus a Kantian account of moral worth is one where the virtuous agent may be responsive to concrete particular considerations, whilst preserving an essential role for universal moral principles. Kant, Duty and Moral Worth is a lucid examination of Kant's moral thought that will appeal to Kant scholars and anyone interested in moral theory.