UBKCX123 Literature and ethics

Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Summer 2023
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jan Heczko, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Jan Heczko, Ph.D.
Institute of The Czech Language and Library Science – Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This seminar will introduce students to the discussions and debates that have comprised the so-called "turn to ethics" in literary criticism over the past two decades. Students will come away from this course with an understanding of at least two of the major impulses within criticism's turn to ethics. One of these orientations emphasizes the role of literature as a repository of values and an agent of moral edification (e.g. Booth, Nussbaum), while the other views literature as the occasion of an encounter with an intractable otherness that cannot be subsumed within presupposed values and conventional standards of conduct (e.g. Derrida, Hillis Miller).
Syllabus
  • Law, morality, ethics. Current critique of ethical essentialism.
    Arts and / versus morality, ethics and / versus literature: historical overview I.
    Arts and / versus morality, ethics and / versus literature: historical overview II.
    Other voices. Cultural alterity.
    Giving voice to what can not speak. Controlling voices, silenced voices.
    Against ethical criticism.
    Author's and reader's responsibility.
    The ethical dimension of speech acts (J. L. Austin).
    Aesthetics and Ethics (P. Ricoeur).
    Ethics of reading and interpretation. Ethical turn in criticism (J. Derrida, J. Hillis Miller).
    Singularity of work, singularity of its reception (D. Attridge).
    We read for life (Martha C. Nussbaum).
Literature
    required literature
  • RICOEUR, P. Čas a vyprávění III. Praha, 2008. info
  • NÜNNING, A. (ed.). Lexikon teorie literatury a kultury. Brno, 2006. info
  • GEORGE, K. Stephen. (ed.). Ethics, Literature, and Theory: An Introductory Reader. Lanham, 2005. info
  • DERRIDA, J. Síla zákona. Praha, 2002. info
  • RICOEUR, P. Myslet a věřit. Praha, 2000. info
    recommended literature
  • EAGLETON, T. Sladké násilí: idea tragična. Brno, 2007. info
  • KERMODE, F. Smysl konců. Brno, 2007. info
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: Cvičení 2 HOD/SEM.
Teacher's information
Activity in seminars. Essay on a given topic.
The course is also listed under the following terms Summer 2017, Summer 2018, Summer 2019, Summer 2020, Summer 2021, Summer 2022, Summer 2024, Summer 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Summer 2023, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.slu.cz/course/fpf/summer2023/UBKCX123