ETHICS AND LITERATURE FOR ASCLEPIUS. SEPTEMBER 16

These are some of the ideas we will be discussing and please don’t worry about not having read the books as examples of the philosophical ideas can be found in a variety of books. Where we will be discussing ideas in class we’ll make sure you have the hand outs a week or so before.

There are 2 ways we can look at literature in ethics.

1) Literature viewed through the lens of ethics This will focus on literature/fiction generally and the philosophical questions arising from it/them. Questions such as can fiction teach us anything at all given that it is ‘just’ fiction? Should a work of art have a moral Should censorship be allowed in some circumstances? Does the view of the author count? Should a work of fiction have a moral content and if so how does this affect the reader.

2) Ethics illuminated by examples from literature We would look closely at philosophical ethics to see how problems raised there are reflected and dealt with in the literary texts studied. Philosophical texts will be on my reading list, not just novels. Extracts of each provided.

Books … extracts to illustrate the ethical and philosophical topics. Full bibliography at the bottom of page.

Primary texts.

Turn of the screw. Henry James

Brothers Karamazov Dostoyevsky

Candide Voltaire

Secondary texts.

Anna Karenina Tolstoy

Mother’s milk Edward St Aubin or similar for example of irony and/or humour

Extracts from various philosophical papers, commentaries and books on literature, fiction and ethics.

Week 1 Jenni General introduction: Inside and outside of a text. Authors, narrators and readers. Authorial intent and ambiguity in Turn of the screw by Henry James.

Week 2. Martyn. Post modernism and the text. Ambiguity, post modernism relativism in relation to James’ Turn of the screw. Possibly William James ---- you can use other texts too if you want to.

Week 3 Jenni Moral panic in James’ Turn of the screw. How this bears relation to the last two weeks discussions.

Week 4. Jenni Can we be moved by emotions in novels if they are fictitious?

Examples from Anna Karenina. Example of comedy from Mother’s Milk

Example of sadness from Anna Karenina and psychical distancing Terry Diffy and other theories on why/how we are moved by fiction. Colin Radcliffe How can we be moved by the fate of Anna Karenina

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Week 5. Martyn Psychology as evidence. Why does fiction affect us so deeply? The psychological effects of fiction on the reader. Aristotle on tragedy ----appeals to us all ----- cathartic. 2. Ethical issues addressed in tragedy. Examples of tragedy that illustrate this point. We can use any texts we like for these two weeks as the topic concerns all fiction.

Week 6 Jenni can we learn morality from fiction? ‘Is it only make believe’ Kendall Walton. Can it make us a better person. Can we learn how to treat others with consideration? If so then what affect does fiction about evil or evil deeds have on us.

Week 7 Martyn. Moral attitudes of the writer, a look at what shapes their outlook.: Henry James, Dostoyevsky and Voltaire. And does it matter? Evil authors and evil deeds. Some examples I thought of; VS Naipaul –misogynist, Salman Rushdie – apparently a blasphemer, Ayn Rand right wing racist, anti gay etc

William James consciousness, no grand narrator, fragmented, morality versus perhaps Dostoyevsky.

Week 8. Martyn Brothers Karamazov. An example of fiction that ‘speaks volumes to or emotions and makes us think about morality. The question in Bros K is Can there be morality without religion Ivanov’s pamphlet/prose----The Grand Inquisitor.

Week 9 Jenni Philosophical ideas and philosophical ethics in fiction. Can we learn about ethical theories/values from a work of literature? Brothers Karamazov. Utilitarian ideas in the speech where Alyosha says he would not torture one child to save the world. Also Voltaire’s Candide and the philosophical idea of The best of all possible worlds and Leibniz’s theory of optimism.

Week 10 Martyn. How morality informs the texts either the point the author is trying to get across to the reader or the author’s own morality. Can we see evidence in literature of different forms of morality in different eras and times? What was Voltaire trying to say in ‘Candide’?

A wide range of (mainly) novels and (maybe) other literature will be examined in this course and any previous reading you have done will be helpful. There is no need to read all of the books mentioned as handouts will be given out in advance.

If you would like to familiarise yourself with the subject of ethics and literature here are some interesting books. (only suggestions)

Dick Beardsmore Learning from a Novel. Royal Institute of Philosophical Lectures U1 1971-2.

Beardsmore, RW. "Literary Examples and Philosophical Confusion" (1984).Philosophy and Literature. Ed. Griffiths, A. P. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 59-73

Booth, W. (1988). The company we keep: An ethics of fiction / Wayne C. Booth. Berkeley,[Calif.] ; London: University of California Press.

Carroll Noël. Ethics, , pp. 350-387. Art and Ethical Criticism: An Overview of Recent Directions of Research. Vol. 110, No. 2 (January 2000). The University of Chicago Press. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/233273

George, S. (2005). Ethics, literature, and theory : An introductory reader / edited by Stephen K. George. (2nd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.

Halliwell, S. (1986). Aristotle's Poetics / Stephen Halliwell. London: Duckworth.

Nussbaum, M. (1992). Love's knowledge : Essays on philosophy and literature / Martha C. Nussbaum. New York: Oxford University Press.

Pojman, L. (1999). The moral life : An introductory reader in ethics and literature. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Radford, Colin. (1975) Why are we moved by the Fate of Anna Karenina? Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society for the systematic study of philosophy. Supplementary Volume XL1X, p's 67-80. London: Williams and Norgate.

Tolstoy, Leo. (1994). What Is Art? London: Duckworth.

Walton, Kendall. (1990). Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundation of the Representational Arts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wilkinson, Robert. (Ed). (1991). Theories of Art and Beauty. I Milton Keynes: Open University Press.