Speaker
John Alcorn
(Trinity College, Connecticut)
Description
This paper compares Adam Smith’s naturalistic theory of moral sentiments and the art of literary persuasion.
Section 1 establishes relevant concepts and mechanisms from TMS: fellow feeling, mutual recognition, sense of propriety, and conformity.
Section 2 outlines the logic of narrative art.
Section 3 compares Smith’s theory of moral sentiments and key moments in three great literary probes of conformity, which have exercised philosophers and psychologists: La Ginestra (Giacomo Leopardi), Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy), and Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro).
Section 4 considers whether literature changes moral norms — and whether Smith’s theory of moral sentiments is intrinsically conservative.
| Organization | Trinity College, Connecticut |
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Primary author
John Alcorn
(Trinity College, Connecticut)
