Literature and Ethical Values
This MIT OpenCourseWare course pairs systematic ethical philosophy with classic literature, tracing four major positions in the history of ethics: Plato and Aristotle from the ancient world, and Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill from the modern period. Thomas Hobbes appears as a bridge figure whose work helps explain the later split between Kantian and Millian ethics. The course treats these four positions as rivals and applies each viewpoint to the reading of literary works, asking how a given ethical framework changes what a novel or play seems to be arguing. It also considers contemporary criticism of the modern positions, including arguments for returning to Aristotelian or Platonic ethics. Materials include the syllabus, reading list, and assignments as published by MIT OpenCourseWare, free to access with no certificate offered.