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 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

Get Book

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 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

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.

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.

Moral Philosophy and Moral Life

Moral Philosophy and Moral Life PDF Author: Anne-Marie Søndergaard Christensen
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198866690
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Anne-Marie Søndergaard Christensen presents a new account of the role of moral philosophy and its relationship to our ordinary moral lives. She challenges the idea that moral theories have an authoritative explanatory or action-guiding role, and develops instead a descriptive, pluralistic, and elucidatory conception of moral philosophy.

Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory

Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory PDF Author: James Dreier
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405101784
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory features pairs of newly commissioned essays by some of the leading theorists working in the field today. Brings together fresh debates on the most controversial issues in moral theory Questions include: Are moral requirements derived from reason? How demanding is morality? Are virtues the proper starting point for moral theorizing? Lively debate format sharply defines the issues, and paves the way for further discussion. Will serve as an accessible introduction to the major topics in contemporary moral theory, while also capturing the imagination of professional philosophers.

Morality and Moral Theory

Morality and Moral Theory PDF Author: Robert B. Louden
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195072928
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Contemporary philosophers are increasingly sceptical toward both morality and moral theory. Some argue that moral theory is a radically misguided enterprise which does not illuminate moral practice, while others simply deny the value of morality in human life. The author responds to the arguments of both 'anti-morality' and 'anti-theory' sceptics.