Literature and Moral Understanding: A Philosophical Essay on Ethics, Aesthetics, Education, and Culture

Abstract

Part 1 Fictional persons and fictional worlds: fictional persons fictional existence possible worlds fictional worlds. Part 2 Fiction versus fantasy, pretence and make-believe: games and language-games make-believe as fantasy imagination. Part 3 The moral attitudes: deeds and doers moral attitudes as mere feelings blame as accountancy or record-keeping difficulties with this argument facts and values the human world. Part 4 Moral responses to fictional characters: Radford's argument Weston's argument. Part 5 Readers and spectators: understanding, emotion and moral response fictional narrator and implied reader access to characters and the form of our attitudes the myth of the disappearing author. Part 6 Life in art: truth in art fictional life not continuous? - order and meaning in art. Part 7 Bad morality, bad art?: artistic and moral appraisal agreement and acceptance art and evil love and the creative act the artist nd moral responsibility art and negativity. Part 8 Learning from literature: the problem the cognitivist theory telling and showing moral understanding and an epistemology of value morality, language and culture ritual and celebration.