Literature and Moral Theory

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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.

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This is a sympathetic but clear-eyed critical evaluation of recent explorations of the relevance of literature to moral philosophy. Its insightful mapping of the territory brings out important differences between the main participants, and suggests one way in which they might be reconciled without sacrificing their emancipatory effect on the future conduct of ethical reflection. * Stephen Mulhall, Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, New College, University of Oxford, UK *
Some of the most fundamental challenges to analytic ethics have come from moral philosophers who believe literature holds forth the promise of transforming received views of what moral thought is like, and of the kinds of difficulties it presents. Hmlinens Literature and Moral Theory offers an insightful and encompassing tour of this turn to literature, describing with particular grace and thoughtfulness the writings of Iris Murdoch and Martha Nussbaum, two of this movements most significant figures. * Alice Crary, Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy, New School for Social Research, USA *
This impressive book looks at how the study of the rich particularities of literary works became an important part of postWW II, English-language moral philosophy. The result was to weaken the hold that totalizing, abstract theory was supposed to have on analytic moral philosophy for most of the 20th century. Hamalainen (philosophy, Univ. of Helsinki, Finland) suggests a way to understand moral philosophys relation to literature, a way that allows for a truce between those who seek to make literature an ally of theory and those who appeal to literature to supplant theory. The key, she argues, is to recognize that at this time, moral philosophical consensus is neither possible nor desirable. The authors knowledge of her subject is wide and deep, and her discussion of different figures and positions is perceptive and judicious. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE *
Hmlinen gives you a useful map of the territory and shows you how we got to where we are now. * The Heythrop Journal *

Author Bio

Nora Hmlinen is post-doctoral researcher and temporary lecturer in philosophy at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She is the co-editor of Language, Ethics and Animal Life (2012) and former Editor-in-Chief of the Helsinki-based cultural weekly Ny Tid.