Talk Pavel - Lecture Series
Loyalty and Contempt
Prof. Thomas Pavel
The University of Chicago
The paper discusses recent attempts to justify contempt as a moral attitude and alternatively as a moral emotion. By examining several literary presentations of this attitude or feeling, the paper argues that literature, being varied, nuanced, and open-ended, helps us better understand contempt and its rapport with interpersonal loyalty. It concludes by agreeing with philosophers who, following Martha Nussbaum’s example, consider that literature, by presenting a wide gamut of possible attitudes and feelings, is uniquely helpful for identifying emotions and their behavioral manifestation.
For more information, please check below references:
Fictional Worlds, Harvard University Press, 1986
The Spell of Language, University of Chicago Press, 2001
The Lives of the Novel, A History, Princeton University Press, 2013