Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 82 No. 2, 2012.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
Ethics and Poetry. An »ancient quarrel« in Greek Philosophy and its Modern Reception
Jasna Ćurković Nimac
; Institut drustvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar, Pula, Hrvatska
Sažetak
This article aims to explore the connection between poetry and ethics according to Jay Parini's sentence, »poets cannot simply choose to separate themselves from the life of their times«. The first part investigates the basis of the claim that there is a connection between ethics and art in general (between ethics and aesthetics), and poetry in particular. It starts with the exploration of the relationship between ethics and poetry in Plato and Aristotle. The author here adopts the Aristotelian view which, in contrast to Plato, regards poets as making a contribution to thought, knowledge, and doesn't regard poetry simply as a dangerously attractive form of entertainment. The second part explores the »ethical turn« that occurred in literature in the eighties, after structuralism and post-structuralism. Against the attitude of l'art pour 1'art, the author argues in favor of the ethical dimension of an artwork and poetry's ability to promote empathy and identification in its readers which renders it a powerful element in the creation and development of this personal stance and moral attitude. But, while many authors agree on the moral power of narrative and stories (W. Booth, G. Marshall, M. Nussbaum, and others), because through their interaction with readers they offer some normative directions, only few have discussed the theoretical basis of the relationship between poetry and ethics. In this regard the article explores some theoretical basis of Martha Nussbaum's book Poetic Justice. The third part corroborates the theoretical basis discussed in the previous two parts with some concrete examples of poetry written by polish poet Czeslaw Milosz.
Ključne riječi
ethics; poetry; ethical criticism; imagination; society
Hrčak ID:
84381
URI
Datum izdavanja:
12.7.2012.
Posjeta: 1.662 *