Download Moral & Philosophical Criticism

Moral & Philosophical
Criticism
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Moral Criticism
 “The best poetry has a power of forming,
sustaining, and delighting us, as nothing else
can. … More and more mankind will discover
that we have to turn to poetry to interpret life
for us, to console us, to sustain us. Without
poetry, our science will appear incomplete; and
most of what now passes with us for religion
and philosophy will be replaced by poetry.”
- Matthew Arnold, “The Study of Poetry”
Literature
 An important source of moral guidance and spiritual
inspiration
 A worthy substitute for religion
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extreme position
in harmony with critical tradition
Moral Criticism
 Moral approach has the longest history.
 The importance of literature
 not just its way of saying
 but also what it says
Moral Criticism
 Critics who concentrate on the moral dimensions of
literature often

judge literary works by their ethical teachings and by their
effects on readers
Literature that is ethically sound and encourages virtue is praised.
 Literature that misguides and corrupts is condemned.

Moral Criticism
 Plato
 acknowledged literature’s power as a teacher by believing it
capable of corrupting morals and undermining religion
Moralism
 Utilitarianism
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Moral Criticism
 Aristotle and Horace
 considered literature capable of fostering virtue
 Horace

Literature should be “delightful and instructive”
Moral Criticism
 Samuel Johnson
 Function of literature
To teach morality
 To probe philosophical issues
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Moral Criticism
 Matthew Arnold
 “The Study of Poetry”
Most important thing is the moral or philosophical teaching
 Great literary work must possess “high seriousness”
 literature (poetry)
 Important source of moral and spiritual inspiration

• Would probably replace philosophy and religion
Moral Criticism
 20th century moral evaluation
 Neo-Humanist
Originally American
 Literature as a criticism of life
 the study of the technique of literature is a study of means
 concerned with the ends of literature

• How it affects the reader
Moral Criticism
 1940’s
 “Death” of Neo-Humanism
 Birth of Christian Humanism (Religious
Humanism)
"a philosophy advocating the self- fulfillment of man within the
framework of Christian principles.“ (Webster)
 Most human beings have personal and social needs that can only
be met by religion
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T.S. Eliot
Edmund Fuller
Hyatt Waggoner
Moral Criticism
 Attempts to extract literature from an ethical context
are misguided and ultimately unsuccessful.

Faults New Criticism
Moral Criticism
 Moral approach has become less popular and
influential during the last few decades.
 Why?

It could be due to
the excess of the critics
 the deficiencies of the approach itself
 the moral laxness of other critics
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