Overview

Mark Twain, the great American writer of the South whose characters struggle with difficult choices, famously said: ""Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."" Taking Twain's phrase as a starting point, this book considers how literature and art explore different systems of values and principles of conduct, and how they can teach us to cope at times of trial.Morality remains one of the most contested areas of thought and ethics in the modern world, due to numerous misapprehensions and the move away from solidarity, from what we share and hold in common, particularly our inherent pursuit of virtue and consideration of principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong, good and bad. Featuring essays by scholars from countries which have seen traditions of virtue and character formation perish in the course of tragic social experiments, this book highlights the role of literature and arts in educating about virtues and character, in both a regional and global context. The volume offers philosophical analysis of moral education and engages with the literary canon, discussing the ways in which virtue was taught and can still be taught with Aristotle as one of the regained ""tools of learning.""The essays span countries from England, Spain, Italy and Belgium to the USA, Costa Rica, ancient China and Israel, with Poland, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Central Europe receiving considerable coverage. They address themes of virtue and character formation from the Bronze Age to the present and serve as inspiring reading for educators, literary scholars, historians, ethicists, artists and active readers.

Full Product Details

9781527508101

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Paweł Kaźmierczak, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the Jesuit University Ignatianum, Poland. His academics interests focus on ethics, philosophy and history of education. He has published three books (on John Paul II, lay Polish Catholics in Communism, and on Dietrich von Hildebrand) and 25 articles on related issues.Jolanta Rzegocka, PhD, is Associate Professor of Anglo-American Literature at the Jesuit University Ignatianum, Poland. Her scholarly work includes publications on medieval theatre, cultural exchange between Elizabethan England and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Jesuit school drama and early modern performance culture in Poland and Central Europe.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available