Literature and moral feeling : a cognitive poetics of ethics, narrative, and empathy /
Ethics has been a central concern in literature since the earliest works treating the purposes of poetry and stories. Plato famously criticized poets for their inculcation of morally improper inclinations, advocating an extensive state censorship that would enable literature to contribute to the dev...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge ; New York :
Cambridge University Press,
[2022].
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| Series: | Studies in emotion and social interaction.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | Ethics has been a central concern in literature since the earliest works treating the purposes of poetry and stories. Plato famously criticized poets for their inculcation of morally improper inclinations, advocating an extensive state censorship that would enable literature to contribute to the development of ethically upstanding citizens. Plato was not alone. Over the centuries, political and religious figures have sought to control what stories were written or read, in part for moral reasons. In a more liberal vein, the Medieval Muslim literary theorists sought to explain the processes by which literary works could cultivate the Islamic virtues (see Cantarino, Ibn SinaÌ„ and Ibn Rushd). The close relation between literature and ethics has not always been viewed as involving the guidance of literature by philosophers or theologians. Sometimes, writers did not privilege philosophy over literature, but rather viewed the two as contributing more equally to a program of understanding ethics and behaving morally, and some gave literature a place of particular esteem. Thus, the ancient Sanskrit NaÌ„tÌ£ya SÌ?aÌ„stra (roughly, Treatise on Drama) asserts that "drama teaches the path of virtue" and that the study of drama is "conducive to righteousness" More strikingly, KoÌŒngzĭ (Confucius) urged his followers to study the Classic of Poetry (ShiÌ„jiÌ„ng), explaining that "The Odes serve to stimulate the mind. They may be used for purposes of self-contemplation. |
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| Physical Description: | x, 304 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 272-289) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781009169516 1009169513 9781009169493 1009169491 |