Ethics and literature

This chapter discusses a range of approaches to the intersections of literature and ethics. After a brief historical perspective on debates waged in relation to literature and ethics, a number of approaches are presented that are characteristic of the ethical turn: criticism inspired by the neo-Aristotelian humanist tradition in moral philosophy; rhetorical criticism; poststructuralist and deconstructive criticism; social and cultural criticism; and criticism rooted in philosophical hermeneutics. The chapter then sketches a number of sociological, cognitive and psychological approaches that seek to support or qualify claims about literature’s ethical potential, or position these within broader negotiations of value in culture. The concluding remarks address among others the value-laden nature of most of these approaches, and the need for interdisciplinary research in this area.