Moral Persuasion and the Diversity of Fictions

Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 94 (3):269-289 (2013)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Narrative representations can change our moral actions and thoughts, for better or for worse. In this article, I develop a theory of fictions' capacity for moral education and moral corruption that is fully sensitive to the diversity of fictions. Specifically, I argue that the way a fiction influences our moral actions and thoughts importantly depends on its genre. This theory promises new insights into practical ethical debates over pornography and media violence.

Similar books and articles

Infected by evil.James Harold - 2005 - Philosophical Explorations 8 (2):173 – 187.
Genre and Persuasion in Religious Ethics: An Introduction.Gerald McKenny - 2005 - Journal of Religious Ethics 33 (3):397 - 407.
Imitation, media violence, and freedom of speech.Susan Hurley - 2004 - Philosophical Studies 117 (1-2):165-218.
Unrealistic Fictions.Allan Hazlett & Christy Mag Uidhir - 2011 - American Philosophical Quarterly 48 (1):33--46.
Moral Metaphorics: Kant after Blumenberg.Alison Ross - 2011 - Thesis Eleven 104 (1):40-58.

Analytics

Added to PP
2012-07-05

Downloads
1,514 (#6,383)

6 months
169 (#14,617)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Shen-yi Liao
University of Puget Sound

Citations of this work

Imagination.Shen-yi Liao & Tamar Gendler - 2019 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Imagination.Tamar Szabó Gendler - 2012 - In Peter Adamson (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
How Statues Speak.David Friedell & Shen-yi Liao - 2022 - The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 80 (4):444-452.

View all 20 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Philosophical papers.David Kellogg Lewis - 1983 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Alief and Belief.Tamar Szabó Gendler - 2008 - Journal of Philosophy 105 (10):634-663.
The Sovereignty of Good.Iris Murdoch - 1970 - New York,: Schocken Books.

View all 65 references / Add more references