Renegotiating Ethics in Literature, Philosophy, and TheoryJane Adamson, Richard Freadman, David Parker Is it possible for postmodernism to offer viable, coherent accounts of ethics? Or are our social and intellectual worlds too fragmented for any broad consensus about the moral life? These issues have emerged as some of the most contentious in literary and philosophical studies. In Renegotiating Ethics in Literature, Philosophy, and Theory a distinguished international gathering of philosophers and literary scholars address the reconceptualisations involved in this 'turn towards ethics'. An important feature of this has been a renewed interest in the literary text as a focus for the exploration of ethical issues. Exponents of this trend include Charles Taylor, Bernard Williams, Iris Murdoch, Cora Diamond, Richard Rorty and Martha Nussbaum, the latter a contributor and a key figure in this volume. This book assesses the significance of this development for ethical and literary theory and attempts to articulate an alternative postmodern account of ethics which does not rely on earlier appeals to universal truths. |
Contents
Deepening the self The language of ethics and the language of literature | 21 |
Martha Nussbaum and the need for novels | 39 |
The concept of dread Sympathy and ethics in Daniel Deronda | 65 |
Against tidiness Literature andversus moral philosophy | 84 |
What differences can contemporary poetry make in our moral thinking? | 113 |
Moral luck in Paris A Moveable Feast and the ethics of autobiography | 134 |
The unseemly profession Privacy inviolate personality and the ethics of life writing | 161 |
Other editions - View all
Renegotiating Ethics in Literature, Philosophy, and Theory Jane Adamson,Richard Freadman,David Parker No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
Alasdair MacIntyre Arendt argues argument artist Ashbery attention autobiography believe Bernard Williams bioethics calls Cambridge character claim complex conception contingency conventions Cora Diamond criticism culture Daniel Deronda Deronda discussion distinct dread Eliot emotional ethical example expressed fact feeling feminist fiction Gradgrind Gwendolen Hannah Arendt Hemingway Hemingway's human idea identity illness narrative imagination important individual interest involves Iris Murdoch judgment kind language literary texts literary theory literature lives Love's Knowledge Martha Nussbaum mean mind modes Moral Luck moral philosophy moral thinking moral thought Moveable Feast Murdoch novel one's ophy particular pathography person philos poem poetry political possible Prelude principle question R. M. Hare Raimond Gaita rational reader reading reason recognise relation responsibility Richard Rorty s/he sense sentimentality simply social action someone sort speak story suggests sympathy theory things tion Vietnamese voice women writing York