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A Manifestation of All Life : Intersections of Virtue Ethics, Philosophy of Emotion, and Philosophy of Literature

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A Manifestation of All Life : Intersections of Virtue Ethics, Philosophy of Emotion, and Philosophy of Literature University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 12-2010 A manifestation of all life : intersections of virtue ethics, philosophy of emotion, and philosophy of literature. Derek Lee Penwell 1965- University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Recommended Citation Penwell, Derek Lee 1965-, "A manifestation of all life : intersections of virtue ethics, philosophy of emotion, and philosophy of literature." (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1113. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/1113 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A MANIFESTATION OF ALL LIFE: INTERSECTIONS OF VIRTUE ETHICS, PHILOSOPHY OF EMOTION, AND PHILOSOPHY OF LITERATURE By Derek Lee Penwell B.R.E., Great Lakes Christian College, 1987 M.A.R., Emmanuel School of Religion, 1990 M.Div., Lexington Theological Seminary D.Min., Lexington Theological Seminary A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Humanities University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky December 2010 Copyright 2010 by Derek L. Penwell A MANIFESTATION OF ALL LIFE: INTERSECTIONS OF VIRTUE ETHICS, PHILOSOPHY OF EMOTION, AND PHILOSOPHY OF LITERATURE By Derek Lee Penwell B.R.E., Great Lakes Christian College, 1987 M.A.R., Emmanuel School of Religion, 1990 M.Div., Lexington Theological Seminary D.Min., Lexington Theological Seminary A Dissertation Approved on December 2, 2010 by the following Dissertation Committee ~sertatUm Director 11 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my wife Susan Parks who has endured great sacrifice to allow me to pursue my education. 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my dissertation director, Dr. Nancy Potter, for her immeasurable and painstaking assistance throughout the process of writing and revising. It is no exaggeration to say that, absent her help and guidance, this work would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the other committee members, Dr. Mark Blum, Dr. Allen Purr, and Dr. Osborn Wiggins, whose helpful comments and direction have proven invaluable in this process. In addition, I would like to express my thanks to Dr. Annette Allen, director of the Humanities Ph.D. program, for her interest and encouragement over the course of this program. Also, I want to convey my many thanks to the fine people at Douglass Boulevard Christian Church for the gift of time and encouragement to finish. I would like to thank my parents, Danny and Gloria Penwell, and my in­ laws, Dorman and Brenda Parks. And though neither my father nor my father-in­ law were able to see me finish, their pride in my accomplishments has helped sustain me through difficult times. I am indebted most of all to my family, chief among which is my lovely wife, which has endured considerable sacrifice to allow me to pursue my education. Susan, Samuel, Mary, and Dominic: I offer you my great thanks for your patience and love through all the time when Daddy had "work to do." IV ABSTRACT A MANIFESTATION OF ALL LIFE: INTERSECTIONS OF VIRTUE ETHICS, PHILOSOPHY OF EMOTION, AND PHILOSOPHY OF LITERATURE Derek L. Penwell December 2,2010 This dissertation offers a brief survey of the rise of reason and the tum to the self at the expense of emotion in Western thought. This marginalization of emotion has had deleterious effects on two areas: the cultivation of virtue and the intersubjectivity necessary to sustain human flourishing. Using current research in neuropsychology the dissertation argues that reason and emotion form a dynamic partnership in the process of attaining reliable knowledge. Moreover, the dissertation argues that the emotional experience necessary for the cultivation of virtue, as well as the ability to attend to the emotional lives of others in the service of intersubjectivity, can be augmented by simulating emotional experiences through reading literature. The dissertation is divided into six chapters. Chapter One traces the history of the rise of reason and the tum to the self in the West, arguing that the preeminence of reason has pushed emotion to the irrational margins. Chapter two explores theories of emotion, contending that emotion is best understood as a process initiated by affective appraisal. Chapter Two also argues for an v understanding of emotion as a necessary part of the process of knowing. Chapter Three uses an Aristotelian analysis of virtue to argue for the need for emotion in developing virtue and sustaining community. Chapter Four sets down a theory of emotional attending that argues against viewing others as objects or as mirror images of the self. Chapter Five offers an argument about the simulation of emotion and the use of the imagination in reading literature, and why expanding emotional resources is an important goal. Chapter Six provides a practical example of how reading can enrich the fund of emotional experiences upon which one draws to attend to the emotional lives of others through analysis of Richard Russo's, Empire Falls. VI LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Basic Emotions .................................................................................................. 97 VIl TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1 II. THE LENS AND THE MIRROR. ................................................... 8 The Privileging of Reason ......................................................... 16 Rene Descartes ..................................................................... 20 John Locke and David Hume ............................................... 22 Immanuel Kant ..................................................................... 25 A Brief Excursus on Ethics and Aesthetics .......................... 26 The Marginalization of Emotion .......................................... 31 The Tum to the Self .................................................................. 46 Theology ............................................................................... 56 Philosophy ............................................................................ 60 Rene Descartes ................................................................ 61 Thomas Hobbes and John Locke ..................................... 62 Immanuel Kant ................................................................ 64 Emotivism ........................................................................ 65 III. TOWARD A THEORY OF EMOTION ............................................ 69 V111 Various Theories of Emotion .................................................... 72 Affective or Embodied Appraisals ............................................ 86 Nature versus Nurture ............................................................... 94 The Dynamics of Knowing ..................................................... 105 Practical Reasoning ............................................................ 107 Theoretical Reasoning ........................................................ 11 0 IV. HUMANS ARE POLITICAL ANIMALS ................................. .122 Humans and the Polis .............................................................. 129 Virtue Ethics versus Deontology and Utilitarianism .............. 139 Tragedy: Plato and Repulsive Emotions ................................. 153 Aristotle and Necessary Emotions .......................................... 159 Emotion, Action, and Tragedy ........................................... 159 Aristotle on Tragedy: Situating the Debate ........................ 160 Pity and Fear ....................................................................... 166 V. INTERSUBJECTIVITY: THE NEED FOR EMOTIONAL ATTENDING .......................................................................... 173 Emotional Attending, Other Sight, and Empathy ................... 179 Uptake and Emotional Engagement ........................................ 191 Iris Murdoch and the Epistemology of Other Sight.. ............. .203 VI. LITERATURE AND THE WORK OF THE IMAGINATION .......................................................................... 215 Literature and the Moral Imagination .................................... .217 Literature and the Emotional Imagination ............................. .233 IX VII. EMPIRE FALLS .......................................................................... 254 Other Sight: The Lens of Love .............................................. .259 The Mirror of Love ................................................................. 281 VIII. NOTES ......................................................................................
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