Caroll Wheel of Virtue

The Wheel of Virtue: Art, Literature, and Moral Knowledge
Author(s): Noël Carroll

Source: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism , Winter, 2002, Vol. 60, No. 1, 60th
Anniversary Issue (Winter, 2002), pp. 3-26
Published by: Wiley on behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1519970
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NOEL CARROLL
The Wheel of Virtue: Art, Literature,

and Moral Knowledge
In Chapter XII of his autobiography, Anthony the Greeks in favor of his own tutor, Plato was at
Trollope writes: pains to argue that neither literature nor art
could teach anyone anything, since teaching re-
By the common consent of all mankind who quires
have something to teach, namely, knowledge,
moral
read, poetry takes the highest place in literature. or otherwise; and knowledge, according
That
nobility of expression, and all but divine graceto Plato,
of was something that neither literature
words, which she is bound to attain before she nor can
art had to offer. Moreover, this Platonic
tradition,
make her footing good, is not compatible with prose. albeit with modem variations adapted
for
Indeed, it is that which turns prose into poetry. different epistemological convictions, still
When
that has been in truth achieved, the reader knows that
persists.
From
the writer has soared above the earth, and can teach an empiricist viewpoint, Monroe
his lessons somewhat as a god might teach. Beardsley
He whoin his treatise Aesthetics challenges
the claims
sits down to write his tale in prose makes no such at- of art and literature to serve as a legit-
imate source
tempt, nor does he dream that the poet's honour is of knowledge,2 while more re-
cently,
within his reach;-but his teaching is of the same na-Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugom
ture, and his lessons all tend to the same end.Olsen in their magisterial Truth, Fiction, and
By ei-
Literature-surely the most comprehensive phi-
ther, false sentiment may be fostered; false honour,
false love, false worship may be created; bylosophy
eitherof literature in the analytic tradition to
vice instead of virtue may be taught. But bydate-advance
each, a no-truth conception of litera-
ture and
equally, may true honour, true love, true worship, that, among other things, rejects the rele-
true humanity be inculcated; and that willvance
be the
of literature as a font of genuine enlight-
greatest teacher who will spread the truth theenment.3
widest.
In this essay, then, I would like to address
Now I suppose that not all of Trollope's asser-what I believe are the most compelling epi-
tions here will meet with common consent. stemic arguments against the notion that litera-
Some will find the comparison with poetry ture (and art more broadly) can function as an
strained, perhaps archaic, and maybe invidious.instrument of education and a source of knowl-
Many more may bristle at the notion that litera-
edge.4 I will attempt to suggest and to defend
ture "inculcates" virtue, since, unqualified, that
one way of answering the aforesaid challenges,
may strike them as too "causal" a way of speak-though, of course, I readily acknowledge that
ing. Nevertheless, I suspect that a great many there may be more than one way to meet these
plain readers would accept the germ of Trol-
arguments (perhaps simulation and empathy
lope's view, once it is suitably modified to claim
may provide other routes).5 Moreover, since it is
no more than that literature, and, by extension,
generally thought that if literature and art can
art can play a role in moral education. function in the service of knowledge and educa-
But, of course, ever since Socrates met Ion, tion, the most likely sort of enlightenment avail-
this has been the crux of the great quarrel be-able from them would be moral, psychological,
tween poetry and philosophy. For in his momen- and social knowledge, I will try to build my case
tous effort to depose Homer as the educatorby offocusing on the ways in which literature and
The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 60:1 Winter 2002

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4 The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
art can impart knowledge of virtue and vice penhagen, one must already be convinced that,
(true and false, as Trollope would say). Spe- in the long run, the invention of the atomic
cifically, I want to convince you that some-not bomb was a bad thing. The play does not teach
all, but still much-literature, especially, and art this to the suitably prepared viewer. She must
can function and is designed to function as a presuppose it as a condition of the work's intel-
source of moral knowledge (notably, for my ligibility in order to comprehend the play appro-
purposes, knowledge of virtue and vice). priately.
Let me begin by rehearsing the leading epi- But if such implied themes are the best can-
stemic arguments against the view that literature didates for the title of artistic truth and if they
and art can function as a genuine source of are characteristically such that audiences must
knowledge and education. The first objection can know them in advance, then it is bizarre to say
be called the banality argument. Here the idea is that audiences learn these truths from the rele-
that the significant truths that many claim art and vant artworks. You cannot learn what you al-
literature afford-that is, general truths about ready know. That much, putatively, is built into
life, usually of an implied nature (as opposed to the concept of education. So, even if art and lit-
what is "true in the fiction")-are, in the main, erature can be said to traffic in truths and, in that
trivial. Richard L. Purtill writes, "... the general respect, to afford knowledge nominally, the
truths about human nature which... the protago- knowledge is so familiar that no one who is
nists of fiction are supposed to illustrate seem so ready to appreciate the art in question can be
platitudinous and threadbare as to raise serious thought to acquire it from the artwork. Art and
questions about the importance of artistic truth. literature are not sources of moral knowledge,
We need no ghost risen from the grave to tell us but, at best, occasions for activating anteced-
that every villain is a knave."6 ently possessed knowledge.
Unlike the other objections to come, the ba- The banality argument questions whether art
nality argument grants that art and literature may and literature can be educative, though it con-
imply some general truths, particularly about cedes that they may pragmatically imply general
human life. Thus, on this argument, one might truths, albeit those of a trivial sort with which
concede that nominally art and literature can audiences are already long familiar. That is, it is
contain or imply knowledge, moral and other- the claim that art and literature educate that the
wise. However, that knowledge hardly counts banality argument targets, not the claim that
for much, amounting to little more than truisms, they may communicate general truths. The next
such as that patricide is evil. Therefore, insofar set of arguments, however, rejects the thesis that
as education presupposes informativeness, the art and literature provide anything worth calling
knowledge, so-called, to be had from art and lit- knowledge at all.
erature teaches no one anything. Compared to Monroe Beardsley argues that "in common
the natural and social sciences and to history, art speech, the statement, 'His behavior at the party
and literature do not produce new knowledge; revealed something to me,' would usually mean
they do not make discoveries. They recycle tru- that the behavior afforded observational data
isms that readers already know. Consequently, that not only (a) suggested a new hypothesis to
since it makes little sense to claim that people me, but (b) constituted fairly strong and direct
learn the truisms they already know from litera- evidence for that hypothesis. I do not think we
ture and art, there is little point in regarding the would ordinarily speak of an event or object as
arts as educational. revealing something unless it did both of these
The banality argument can also be strength- things."8 Beardsley then goes on to apply this
ened by recalling that most of the implied gen-principle to a case where someone alleges that
eral truths said to be available in the arts are of Elia Kazan's film Baby Doll reveals the shock-
the nature of conversational or pragmatic ing condition and abuse of retarded women in
implicatures.7 They are presuppositions that the the South.
reader or spectator must bring to the artwork in Beardsley says:
order to understand and respond to it appropri-
ately. To be prepared to exonerate the character Even this way of speaking stretches the term from its
Werner Heisenberg in Michael Frayn's play Co- ordinary use, for though the movie may suggest the

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Carroll The Wheel of Virtue: Art, Literature, and Moral Knowledge 5
hypothesis that retarded Southern girls are frequently of cases-on behalf of the generalizations they
kept in unconsummated wedlock, it does not present a suggest, but this is scarcely adequate evidence
single authenticated case history (being fiction), and for generalizations, for example, about human
therefore it certainly is not strong or direct evidence nature.12 Moreover, this problem of evidence is
for the hypothesis.... The distinction between sug- particularly vexing in cases of fiction, where the
gesting a hypothesis and giving evidence for it-that case studies that accompany the hypotheses are
is, confirming it-is crucial here, but I assume it to be made up. A reader would be foolish to take a fic-
generally understood and accepted. To give an ex- tion as evidence for an empirical claim about the
treme example, a man may dream that his wife is un- South or about human nature just because he
faithful, and this dream, vividly and sharply recalled, could never be certain which parts of the fiction
may suggest to him for the first time in his married were spun of whole cloth and which parts were
life the hypothesis that she is unfaithful. Here we are not. 13
speaking of the source, or genesis of the hypothesis, Fictions that are intended to advance theses,
though it may be evidence for another hypothesis, furthermore, are typically designed in such a
namely that he unconsciously wishes to be unfaithful way that the story content supports its putative
himself.9 truth claims. From the epistemic point of view,
they are always already tainted; the evidence, if
In a similar vein, Christopher New argues: that is what the story is, is, so to speak, cooked
from the get-go. The story cannot confirm or au-
The novel may well imply that the views are true, and thenticate its thesis, where it has one. So the fic-
do so very forcefully, but it cannot itself authenticate tion, when it is underwritten by some general
the view it conveys-whether the view is a sound one truth, cannot afford genuine knowledge, since
depends on what the (moral and religious) facts are, however true its claims may be, they are never
not on how the author's fiction represents them. So, justified. Fiction is not a reliable source of evi-
while fiction literature may imply such truths, it can- dence. So fiction cannot educate, since it has no
not guarantee them. This does not mean, of course, knowledge (no justified true belief) to dispense.
that we cannot gather truths from fiction, only that Thus, by a different epistemological route, the
they are not shown to be truths by virtue of being per- contemporary philosopher of literature arrives at
suasively conveyed in a novel, story, poem, film or the same conclusion Plato reached in Book X of
play. In this sense, claims that fiction has some kind his Republic.
of special route to moral (or any other) truth must be The proponent of the no-evidence argument
rejected as fanciful.10 concedes that art and literature may be sources of
hypotheses about the world that audiences may
This line of objection can be called the no- then go on to attempt to confirm.14 But the con-
evidence argument. Whereas the banality argu- cession here is at best grudging, since it will also
ment challenges the belief that art and literature be pointed out that the hypotheses available from
can be properly subsumed under the concept of art and literature are, in general, woefully vague.
education, since audiences already standardly How are we to understand their scope? If Brett
possess whatever knowledge they imply, the Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero is meant to repre-
no-evidence argument contests the notion that sent adolescent life in Los Angeles, how com-
what art and literature possess or imply by way prehensive is this hypothesis supposed to be?15
of general truths can be subsumed accurately Does it pertain to all L.A. youths or only some-
under the concept of knowledge. For knowl- to all members of a certain social class, or most,
edge, properly so-called, must not only be true, many, or just a few? For if we are unable to as-
but warranted. Thus, if the knowledge in ques- certain how far the hypothesis reaches, then talk
tion is empirical, it must be supported by evi- of confirming the hypothesis seems so much arm
dence. However, few artworks, save perhaps waving. Indeed, since extracting hypotheses
some postmodernist installation pieces, contain from art and literature generally involves inter-
evidence on behalf of the knowledge-claims- pretations, and interpretations themselves may
the hypotheses-they advance. l often be indeterminate and contestable, it is far
Most artworks that allegedly contain general- from clear that the hypothesis/confirmation
izations only present a single case-or a handful model of artworks is very promising. For we

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may rarely find ourselves with a hypothesis solid charges of banality. If one simply says, "there
enough even to attempt to confirm.16 an external world" and leaves it at that, we
A third position against the notion that art and would regard the assertion as a truism. But when
literature can function as a source of knowledge supported by argumentation, the position can
and education has been identified by Peter become interesting, novel, and informative. Art-
Kivy;17 we can call it the no-argument argu- works can contain and imply moral and philo-
ment. Stated succinctly, it maintains that even if sophical beliefs of the order just mentioned.
artworks contained or implied general truths, However, since artworks, including literary
neither the artworks themselves nor the critical works, putatively trade in those beliefs without
discourse that surrounds them engages in ar- argumentation or analysis, their avowals never
gument, analysis, and debate in defense of the transcend the banal. In this way, the first part of
alleged truths. the no-argument argument lends support to the
The no-argument argument advances two banality argument.
claims. The first is that artworks, where they The second part of the no-argument argument
contain or suggest general truths, do not argue in concerns the lack of argumentation in our literary
their behalf; at best they merely assert or implypractices regarding the truth-value of the general
them. The second point is that the critical dis- beliefs contained and implied in artworks.
course that greets artworks does not typically Lamarque and Olsen allege that it is a striking
lavish attention on arguing for or against the fact about literary criticism and literary conver-
truths allegedly disclosed in the artwork. This sations that we do not debate the truth or falsity of
indicates that assessing the truth or falsity of the claims we find in literary works.19 Critics
general claims is not a feature of the literary in-may identify the moral or philosophical commit-
stitution, since neither authors nor critics appear ments in a work, but they do not go on either to
much concerned with it. But if authors and crit- dispute them or to supplement them with further
ics are not much concerned with assessments of argumentation and analysis. This indicates to
truth or falsity, it would seem that the authenti- Lamarque and Olsen that questions of truth and
cation of truth claims is not a function of litera- falsity are not part of the literary institution.
ture. And if the authentication of truth claims is Moreover, this evidence, derived from liter-
not part of literary practice, then that practice ary criticism (which, in turn, might be regarded
cannot have much to do with the production of as a model of the appropriate response to litera-
knowledge, properly so called. ture), suggests that the assessment of the general
The first part of the no-argument argument claims in literary works is not part of the
resembles the no-evidence argument. It denies reader's appreciative practices with respect to a
that artworks can be regarded as sources of literary work qua literary work.20 And if the as-
knowledge, since artworks typically spend little sessment of truth or falsity is not part of the
or no effort in attempting to justify whatever reader's appreciative activities, then the idea
general beliefs they advance. Whereas the no- that the reader gains knowledge or learns from
evidence argument notes that artworks do not literary works appears unlikely. Lamarque and
offer genuine evidence for the general beliefs Olsen do not deny that literary works may con-
they contain or imply, the no-argument argu- tain or imply general beliefs. However, they do
ment faults art and literature for their lack of ar- deny that the purpose of said beliefs in the works
gumentation, analysis, and debate. that advance them is to impart knowledge and
Kivy also notices a possible connection education. The general beliefs in literature, they
between the banality argument and the no- contend, serve a different function. They are
argument argument.18 In philosophical discus- there to organize the text, inasmuch as the gen-
sions, people often advance what appear to be eral themes in literary texts subsume or colligate
truisms, such as "there is an external world." We the incidents and descriptions therein for the
do not dismiss discussions like this on the sake of imbuing the whole with unity. Critics
grounds that they are banal, however, because point to these themes in order to disclose the co-
they are generally defended by often-sophisti- herence of the text. Like latter-day Russian
cated argumentation. It is the argumentation Formalists,
that Lamarque and Olsen regard the
saves philosophical views such as this from presence of general themes in literary texts as

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what motivates and organizes writing. Such tale of the Evil Deceiver are both thought experi-
themes do not occur in literary texts for the pur- ments. And thought experiments abound in
pose of promoting knowledge and learning. contemporary philosophical literature, includ-
The banality argument, the no-evidence arguing: Quine's Gavagi, Putnam's Twin Earth,
ment, and the no-argument argument are three Searle's Chinese Room, Nozick's Experience
of the leading philosophical objections to the Machine, Putnam's Brain in a Vat, Rawls's Orig-
notion that art and literature can function as inal Position, Thomson's Ailing Violinist,
sources of knowledge and education. Insofar Danto's
as Gallery of Indiscernible Red Canvases,
they are general objections, they preclude any and so on. Since virtually no philosophical tech-
nique is utterly beyond controversy, some criti-
artistic pretensions to knowledge and education,
whether about society, psychology, philosophy, cisms of thought experimentation have been
voiced. Yet thought experimentation continues
morality, and so on. In order to probe these gen-
eral claims, I will focus on the possibility that
to be an acceptable philosophical practice.
art, and especially literature, can function as aBefore turning from the relevance of philo-
source of moral knowledge and education. For sophical thought experiments to the arguments
inasmuch as these skeptical arguments are uni- against the cognitive prospects of literature and
art, it is first useful to remind ourselves of some
versal (or nearly universal) in scope, that should
be enough to defeat them. of the features of philosophical thought experi-
Rather than confronting these skeptical argu-ments. Speaking very broadly, Roy Sorenson de-
ments one at a time, I would like to introduce a thought experiments as those "that purport
fines
consideration that simultaneously problematizesto deal with their questions by contemplation of
each of these arguments in different ways.
their design rather than by execution."25 Thought
These arguments, we must remember, are phi- experiments frequently take the form of narra-
losophers' arguments. And yet it is extremely tives, but at the same time, they also function as
peculiar that philosophers should raise these arguments. In order to refute utilitarianism, one
particular objections against literature, sincetells a story about the execution of an innocent
philosophy employs a gamut of techniques to loner by a police force bent on maintaining public
produce knowledge and learning that are analo- order. A philosophical thought experiment is not
gous to those found in literature. What I haveaindevice for reaching empirical discoveries but
mind here specifically are thought experiments,for excavating conceptual refinements and rela-
examples, and counterexamples that are often tionships.26
narrative and generally fictional in nature. SuchPhilosophical or analytical thought experi-
devices are frequently employed by philoso- ments aim at mobilizing conceptual knowledge
phers to defend and/or to motivate their claims,
-a priori knowledge and/or the knowledge that
moral and otherwise. Thus, if these strategies underwrites our ability to apply concepts compe-
are acceptable forms of knowledge production tently-in order to reach certain conclusions. In
in philosophy and if literature contains compara-
other words, thought experiments rely upon what
ble structures, then if philosophy conducted competent
by users of a concept already, in some
means of thought experiments is an adequatesense, know in order to clarify our understand-
source of knowledge and education, then ing.27 so Ideally, from our antecedent knowledge of
should literature be. how to apply certain concepts, the analytical
The thought experiment is embraced across thought experiment can shift our conceptual map
philosophical schools. The phenomenologist Ed- in such a way that the results bring to the surface
mund Husserl referred to it as "free variation,"21 propositional knowledge about our concepts and
the pragmatist Charles Sanders Peirce called it their interrelationships.28
ideal or imaginary experimentation,22 the logical That is, given the specifics of an imagined
empiricist Ernst Mach is said to have coined the case, we can be led to consider how we would or
term gedankenexperimente,23 and the logical be- would not describe it or size it up in a way that
haviorist Gilbert Ryle speaks of "imaginative may prompt us to contemplate, possibly clarify,
variation."24 Of course, thought experiments lie and even reconfigure our conceptual commit-
deep in the Western philosophical tradition: ments, thereby rendering our concepts newly
Plato's tale of the Ring of Gyges and Descartes's meaningful.29 Among other things, thought ex-

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periments provide us with the opportunity to ob- knowledge, knowledge already possessed by lis-
serve the results of the imaginative employment teners intuitively, often inhering in their ability
of our antecedently possessed verbal and con- to apply concepts. Since philosophical thought
ceptual know-how in such a way that we be- experiments aim at the conceptual reorganiza-
come aware of what we already know.30 tion of antecedent knowledge rather than empiri-
Analytic philosophers frequently use thought cal discoveries about the world, they can be fic-
experiments, examples, and counterexamples tional; imaginary cases suffice to get the mind
for the purpose of the sort of clarification associ- moving over its conceptual map.32 Actual cases
ated with conceptual analysis-for the purpose are not required to produce conceptual knowl-
of framing, probing, and/or challenging defini- edge. Thus, it is no failing of a philosophical
tions, for testing ways of setting up a question or thought experiment that it wants for the kind of
a problem, for making precise distinctions, re- evidence requisite for the production of empiri-
vealing adequacy conditions, tracing entail- cal knowledge. Confronted with the proposition
ments and inference patterns, proposing possi- that it is always morally wrong to lie, a possible
bility proofs, and assessing claims of conceptual case concerning the return of a sword to its irra-
necessity.31 Fictional philosophical narratives of tional owner is enough to unhorse the universal-
these sorts are considered arguments, albeit ization.
enthymemes. They rely on listeners to fill them Likewise, since philosophical thought experi-
in. They operate on the listener's antecedent con- ments, examples, and counterexamples function
ceptual knowledge, exploiting her or his ability by mobilizing and reorganizing what the listener
to apply concepts in order to clarify that knowl- already knows, the banality argument is irrele-
edge and to bring it out into the open, or to dispel vant. Philosophical thought experiments may be
or unmask conceptual vagueness and/or confu- dragooned in the service of banalities, and they
sion. The listener reflects on the design of the are predicated on provoking reflection on what
thought experiment in such a way that her intu- is already known, especially in terms of the ap-
itions are brought explicitly into the foreground. plication of concepts; nevertheless, we still re-
When my students tell me that any list of vir- gard them as productive of knowledge, since
tues is arbitrary, I ask them to imagine that they they make what in some sense is already known
are parents endowed with the singular ability to accessible and salient. They make connec-
invest magically their offspring with any pack- tions-that were hitherto recessive or obscure-
age of personality traits they wish. As they con- between what is already known and other parts
template this exercise with a commitment to the of our cognitive stock. They illuminate the rele-
aim that their offspring be equipped to flourish vance of what is already known to the question
or to do well in unpredictable circumstances, at hand by refocusing that knowledge in a novel
they invariably arrive at a list of traits many of way. This counts as knowledge production, be-
which would certainly be recognized by Aris- cause it clarifies linkages between parts of our
totle. And these results then lead them to recon- cognitive map. But even if someone were to dis-
sider critically the notion that every list of vir- count this as genuine knowledge production, on
tues is purely arbitrary or subjective. The the grounds that all that has been achieved by
fictional thought experiment functions argu- the thought experiment is to draw forth what is
mentatively, enthymemetically, to shake their already known (or what is implied by what is al-
skepticism by mobilizing and reorganizing ready known), it cannot be denied that thought
knowledge they already possess. experiments contribute to learning. For granting
Now it should be clear that philosophical that the slave in Plato's Meno already knows
thought experiments, examples, and counter- what Socrates elicits from him, it is still unques-
examples are not vulnerable to the banality argu- tionable that Socrates teaches him geometry.
ment, the no-evidence argument, and the no-ar- The banality argument, then, leaves philo-
gument argument. They are not susceptible to sophical thought experiments unscathed. What
the no-evidence argument, since philosophical of the no-argument argument? Construed very
thought experiments are not aimed at discover- narrowly-say in the terms of a logic text-
ing empirical knowledge. Where they succeed, book-thought experiments are not deductive
they are predicated on unearthing conceptual arguments. They are incomplete. But they still

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function as arguments. For what is missing on about how they intend them to be used
the page is filled in by the reader's reflection on it might be said, the literary authors w
the thought experiment, example, or counter- them have no intention to use the
example. Told the story about the shopkeeper mentively. They invent characters, like
who always counts out change scrupulously so to entertain, not to make an argumenta
as not to be stigmatized as a cheat, the reader But whether this is so depends on the
grasps the point of the narrative and draws the question.34 Some artworks and literary
distinction between prudent action and moral are intended to make argumentative p
action on her own. The analysis occurs, so to where a convincing interpretation of the
speak, in her own mind, operating on her or his ders that interpretation plausible, there
antecedent conceptual stock, and need not be no reason, in principle, to treat th
spelled out on the page. Thought experiments thought experiments-with respect to
are enthymemetic in this respect. But they are tual knowledge-differently than the
nonetheless arguments, often functioning mai- pher' s.35
eutically. Thus, philosophical thought experi- A further reason to regard some artistic and
ments do not fall afoul of the no-argument argu- literary fictions, or parts thereof, as comparable
ment, at least where the concept of argument is to philosophical thought experiments, examples,
applied as liberally as it is in philosophical dis- and counterexamples is that, when interpreted
course. suitably and contextually, they can be seen as
Philosophical thought experiments performingthen, the same kinds of functions that
which are often both narrative and fictional,
philosophical thought experiments do. Some of
cannot be rejected on the groundsthe of banality,
primary functions of philosophical thought
lack of evidence, or lack of argument. experiments include: defeating alethic claims
Conse-
quently, if some artworks, especially concerning possibility or necessity or deontic
literary
ones, are sufficiently analogous toclaims philosophical
of what ought or ought not be done, or of
thought experiments, examples, and what counter-
is or is not obligated; advancing modal
examples, then they too should beclaims immuneabout whatto is possible; and, finally, moti-
these objections. But is there any reason vating conceptual
to sup- distinctions-that is, refining
pose that any artworks are sufficiently conceptual analo-
space, rendering what was vague
gous to philosophical thought experiments? more precise by promoting what Wittgen-
One reason, of course, is that examples steinians might
drawncall exercises in the grammar of
from fiction are frequently put into concepts or grammatical
service by analysis. But if we
philosophers. Rather than concoct grant their
that these own
are among the leading functions
thought experiments, that is, sometimes of philosophical
philoso-thought experiments, then we
phers borrow them from literature.must also grant that some artworks, under emi-
Encountering
the Socratic doctrine that a person nently
who plausible
knows interpretations, can discharge
the good cannot choose to do evil,the samephiloso-
the functions.
pher may respond by drawing attention Theto function
the lit- of a great many philosophical
erary cases of Milton's Satan, who thought declares,
experiments is to raise counterexamples
"Evil be thou my good," as welltoas universal claims. The same can be said with
to Shake-
speare's Iago and Melville's Claggart.33
justice about The
some (even many) of the narrative
reader, using her conception of whatfictions found in literature. In 1938, E. M.
is humanly
Forster wrote:
possible, recognizes that such personality types "Personal relations are despised
could obtain and then goes on to take these
today. They liter-
are regarded as bourgeois luxuries,
ary inventions as counterexamples to the
as products of So-
a time of fair weather which is
cratic position. Thus, insofar as philosophers
now past, and can
we are urged to get rid of them,
use literary thought experiments and to dedicate ourselves to some movement or
argumenta-
cause instead. I hate the idea of causes, and if I
tively, there should be no objection, in principle,
had to choose between betraying my country
to authors and artists behaving comparably.
Undoubtedly it will be pointed outandthat when
betraying my friend, I hope I should have
philosophers appropriate literary the
examples as
guts to betray my country."36 One straight-
thought experiments, there is littleforward question
way of understanding Forster's remarks

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here is as an endorsement of the moral maxim, Though for most moral philosophers, the no-
"When loyalty to a friend conflicts with loyalty tion that a just cause should trump friendship
to a cause, one ought to choose in favor of the may seem self-evident, nevertheless for ordi-
friend." But suspicion of this maxim seems pre- nary people caught in the web of daily life,
cisely what animates Graham Greene's 1949 Forster's maxim has seductive resonance. It
screenplay for The Third Man.37 may strike many, especially given certain cir-
Though Harry Lime is Holly Martins's best cumstances, as a piece of commonplace wis-
friend and old school chum, as the evidence dom-a reliable, even noble guide to life's deci-
mounts that Lime's black market drug dealing sions. It is certainly the sort of consideration tha
has destroyed thousands, including children, anyone caught between friendship and a cause
Martins is finally compelled morally to sever the will take very seriously, even if not as ultimately
bonds of friendship and to assist the Allies in decisive.
tracking Lime down. Finally Martins himself Literature, moreover, enters public discourse
shoots Lime, appropriately enough in a sewer at the level of ordinary experience. Novels and
(which is where the story suggests people like plays are not, in the main, directed at moral phi-
Lime belong). As a counterexample to Forster's losophers, but at plain readers who deliberate
maxim, it makes no difference that the story is a about living problems by consulting maxims de-
fiction, that Lime never existed, and that, conse- rived from what passes as commonplace wis-
quently, he poisoned no one. For the viewer or dom. In that context, the falsity of Forster's
reader recognizes that a situation like the one maxim is not self-evident; indeed, it has even
imagined by Greene is a possible one, and, using been attractive to many of Forster's admirers in
our already in-place cognitive/moral stock, we, the intellectual elite. So given the context in
along with Martins, realize that Forster' s maxim which the Forster/Greene debate is staged, the
is untenable. conclusion The Third Man elicits is hardly
Some might be skeptical of this example on banal, if by banal one means a redundant, fore-
the grounds that it is the case of a philosopher, gone conclusion.39
namely me, using a fictional example to do my In reviewing the banality argument, it is
work for me. That is, I am using Greene's worthwhile to notice that it raises the question of
screenplay because I am too lazy to invent a "banal for whom?" Art and literature are cus-
thought experiment of my own design. It is, in tomarily directed at communities broader in
effect, my thought experiment, juxtaposed to scale and background than the philosophy collo-
Forster's maxim, and not Greene's thought ex- quium. Conclusions that might appear utterly
periment. However, a cursory examination of banal or obvious for experts in ethics may not be
the text makes clear that the issue of personal banal or obvious to nonprofessional audiences,
loyalty is at the very heart of Greene's thriller- especially where the maxims in question figure
that Martins's conversion to the Allied cause is in pitched, contextually motivated, debates
its central dramatic conflict. This dramatic about pressing issues abroad in the culture.40
transformation is, in fact, highlighted by anWhat
im- the philosopher discounts as trivial may in
portant contrast in the fiction, since Anna fact be revelatory for the plain reader and, for
Schmitt, Lime's lover, refuses to be disloyal thattovery reason, can have a fair claim to being
Lime, thereby casting Martins's metamorphosisinformative and educative for the intended audi-
into bold relief.38 Another reservation aboutence.41
my
use of The Third Man might involve a reversion The potential of art to challenge the standing
to the banality argument. That Martins should ideas of a culture-moral, political, and even
theoretical ideas-is a feature emphasized by
side with the Allies in their pursuit of a vicious
racketeer, it might be said, is a no-brainer. many
Who defenders of literature's claim to be a
needs a counterexample, especially suchsource an of knowledge and education.42 Art and
elaborate one, to persuade any decent person of
literature, by destabilizing reigning ideas, often
this? Later I will make some comment on the elicit social debate by functioning as counter-
elaborateness of literary thought experiments.examples, undercutting, subverting, and dis-
For the moment, let me concentrate on the accu-
confirming common belief by designing thought
sation of banality. experiments, like The Third Man, whose possi-

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bility the reader recognizes, upon reflection, re- ines a gallery of nine, indiscernible, red-covered
futes prevailing opinion. In such cases, no evi- canvases in order to map the concept of art,
dence is required for the thought experiment as while also juxtaposing the Don Quixote of Cer-
argument to find its mark. Thus, the fact that The vantes with the Don Quixote of Menard in order
Third Man is fictional is no impediment to its to isolate certain of the conditions in accordance
yielding knowledge, and, even if that yield could with which we individuate works of art.44 This
be described as merely a reorganization or refo- is a very standard use of philosophical thought
cusing or even recollection of knowledge al- experiments in the service of conceptual analy-
ready possessed, it need not be dismissed as sis: to array a structured series of carefully cho-
banal for its intended audience. For an already sen, contrasting, graduated examples in order to
known but neglected truth reinserted strategi- provoke reflection on concepts whose condi-
cally into a debate can afford insight; sometimes tions of application remain otherwise elusive
education can involve remembering, recalling, and/or vague. Call this function of philosophi-
reconfiguring, or applying in a pertinent context cal thought experiments conceptual discrimina-
what one already knows. Much artistic criticism tion. It should also be evident that literary
of social convention operates like this: through thought experiments can also promote concep-
imagining eminently possible cases that contra- tual discrimination in just this way, since, of
dict conventional wisdom, authors prompt read- course, Danto himself appropriates the Cervan-
ers to recognize the limitations of the maxims tes/Menard juxtaposition from the story by
and concepts they live by as well as their impli- Jorge Luis Borges entitled "Pierre Menard, Au-
cations. thor of the Quixote."
Such literary thought experiments function to It is my contention that conceptual discrimi-
refute beliefs about what is necessary or univer- nation occurs in art, especially in literature, quite
sal or morally required by imagining possibili- frequently, or, at least, much more than hereto-
ties, thereby promoting reflection from audi- fore suspected, and that this justifies our speak-
ences in the same way that Plato does in his ing of certain literary thought experiments as
Philebus when he confronts the hedonist with analogous enough to philosophical thought ex-
the prospect of living the life of a contented oys- periments that we may wave to one side the ba-
ter. The example energizes thought, throwing nality argument, the no-evidence argument, and
one back on one's antecedent cognitive re- the no-argument argument. For though literary
sources, probing them, and eliciting a conclu- thought experiments of this variety tread con-
sion. If this counts as argumentation in Plato's ceptual terrain that in some sense we already in-
case, then so should it in Graham Greene's. habit, they cultivate our grasp of what is known
Therefore, inasmuch as the no-argument argu-with finer distinctions. Even if such knowledge
ment does not pertain to philosophical thoughtis already known, it is not banal, since literary
experiments, neither must it preclude compara-thought experiments refine it. Moreover, since
ble literary thought experiments. For the rele-what they produce is conceptual knowledge
vant argumentation and analysis is elicited in therather than empirical knowledge, they are im-
mind of the reader, either in the process of read- mune to the no-evidence argument.45 And lastly,
ing or in what Peter Kivy has elegantly chris- insofar as the thought experiment is itself an in-
tened the reflective afterlife of the work-our strument of argumentation, broadly but fairly
mulling over the significance of the story and its construed as a device for stimulating and guiding
characters after we have put the book down orreflection and analysis in the mind of the reader,
even perhaps our reflection during subsequent the literary thought experiment is no more vul-
discussions with other readers.43 nerable to the no-argument argument than the
Moreover, literary thought experiments, like philosophical thought experiment is.
philosophical thought experiments, need not One particularly rich topic that is explored by
function only negatively as counterexamples. literary and artistic thought experiments con-
They too can function positively to clarify concerns our concepts of virtue and the conditions
cepts, to dispel vagueness, and to illuminate the according to which we apply them. To defend
criteria that lead us to apply concepts one way this claim, let me spend some time examining
or another. Arthur Danto, for example, imag- Forster's novel Howards End. As you may re-

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For example, in Dickens's Great Expecta-

call, it involves, most importantly, the interac-
tions of two families-the Schlegals and the tions, we find a structured array of contrasting
Wilcoxes. The trait that marks the Schlegals is parental figures who instantiate the virtues of
imagination, signaled by their interests in art, lit- parenthood to greater, but, more often, lesser de-
erature, music, culture, and political idealism.46 grees: Pip's sister, her husband Joe Gagery,
The Wilcoxes, in contrast, are practical people, Miss Havisham, and Abel Magwitch. Reflecting
strong on duty and convention, and committed on this array, we are able to clarify our concept
to the life of business affairs and acquisition. of virtuous parenting. Only Joe qualifies under
There are other important characters, such as the concept, since he alone shows selfless love
Leonard Bast, but as we will see, he too figures in relation to his charge. Moreover, his posses-
in the organizing contrast between imagination sion of this virtue is illuminated by contrast to
and practicality. the other parental figures who, in varying ways,
The epigraph of the novel is "Only con- suggest defective and even vicious modes of
nect .. ." What must be connected? As Margaret parenting. Pip's sister fails before the criteria of
Schlegal, the protagonist, makes explicit, what virtuous parenting, since she regards him as a
must be connected are passion and prose- chore, simply to be disciplined "by hand," as she
imagination and practicality-in a complete, says.49 Miss Havisham and Magwitch, in turn,
unfragmented life, i.e., in a flourishing or virtu- are defective parental figures, since they regard
ous life. The central problematic of the novel is their wards as ways to satisfy their own fanta-
the appropriate coordination of the virtues of the sies-Pip and Estella are not ends in them-
imagination and of practicality. To pursue this selves, but means to achieve vicarious wish-ful-
question, the novel parades before us a series of fillment for Magwitch and Miss Havisham,
characters who instantiate these virtues in vary- respectively. The virtue wheel in Great Expec-
ing degrees, inviting us to compare and contrast tations enables us simultaneously to clarify our
these instantiations-to determine whether, for concept of virtuous parenthood-it allows us to
example, the characters possess the virtues of reflect upon the conditions where we would
imagination and practicality in appropriate or de- apply or withhold it-while also sharpening our
fective ways-and to reflect upon which manner sense of when the concept is defectively or even
of connecting these traits adds up to what we viciously instantiated. The text makes these con-
would be willing to call a suitably complete and ceptual discoveries available to us, if not as we
virtuous way of living.47 read along, then in the reflective afterlife of the
To promote and guide this reflection, the text or in conversation with others about our re-
novel deploys a structure-which I believe is action to the text.50
quite frequent in art, especially narrative art and Similarly, Howards End is structured in terms
literature-that we might call the virtue wheel of a rather elaborate virtue wheel. Not only are
or virtue tableau. A virtue wheel or virtue tab- the Schlegals and the Wilcoxes as families con-
leau comprises a studied array of characters whotrasted with each other; there are further contrasts
both correspond and contrast with each other among the major players that suggest better and
along the dimension of a certain virtue or pack-worse ways of possessing the relevant character
age of virtues-where some of the characterstraits. On the Schlegal side of the divide, there are
possess the virtue in question, or nearly so, or Margaret, her sister Helen, and her brother
part of it, while others possess the virtue, butTibby. They are all imaginative, though only
only defectively, or not at all, even to such anMargaret seems to be imaginative in a virtuous
extent that their lack of the virtue in question way, since only Margaret perceives the necessity
amounts to the vice that corresponds to the vir-of tempering imagination with practicality; only
tue. In this way, a virtue wheel is a comparable Margaret can see that there is something virtuous
structure to the studied, polarized array of con-about people like the Wilcoxes.
trasts found in philosophical thought experi- Helen and Tibby, in turn, illustrate, as Aris-
ments such as Danto's that by systematicallytotle might have predicted, two ways in which
varying possible contributing factors enable usthe virtue of imagination can be defective.
to identify conceptual dependencies and other Helen's imagination is almost pathological; so
relations.48 overwhelmed by imaginative empathy for oth-

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ers, notably the Basts, is she that she harms the even vicious ways of inhabiting the traits of
people closest to her and herself; whereas Tibby imagination and practicality. To the extent that
is so preoccupied with the life of the imagina- virtue involves placing a brake on excessive-
tion-conceived of in terms of aesthetic/schol- ness, the example of Margaret Schlegal suggests
arly distance-that he is almost completely in-that while practicality is a needed brake on
different to others. As we reflect on the novel,imaginative excess, imagination is a needed
we come to realize that only Margaret is a real brake on practical or conventional excess.51
And, inasmuch as the reader concurs with Mar-
candidate for the virtue of imagination, properly
so-called. We not only learn that, but also we be-
garet's behavior (and reflects on why he does
come conscious of why we ought to withhold so), the reader can be said to come to see or, at
least, to recollect the relevance of these
ascription of the virtue from people such as
Helen and Tibby. They have either too muchconsiderations to his application of the concepts
imaginative empathy or too little. Only Marga- in question.
ret is able to strike a balance. Other characters in the novel also occupy var-
Likewise, the Wilcoxes suggest a series ofious points on the virtue wheel. Leonard Bast,
gradations on the theme of practicality. Henry,for example, attempts to compartmentalize the
the paterfamilias and eventual husband of Mar- imagination and practicality-he fails to con-
garet, is a practical man, but he appreciates the nect. Because of this, he never really appears to
imagination in a limited way; it is her imagina- deserve being thought of in terms of either vir-
tion that attracts him to Margaret. His elder son, tue.52 However, rather than proceeding by locat-
Charles, has no inkling of imagination, but livesing every significant character in the novel on
utterly by convention, a trait that not only blindsthe virtue wheel, I suspect that I have said
him to imaginative reflection, but leads him to enough to draw the relevant conclusions I need
kill Leonard Bast accidentally; whereaes his sis-about how the virtue wheel serves as a structure
ter Evie is completely a figure for material or that enables Howards End, conceived of as a
physical (as opposed to spiritual) existence, as- thought experiment, to discharge the function of
sociated as she is almost exclusively with sportsconcept discrimination.53
and rearing pets. She is all "body," and scarcely As in many literary works, films, plays, narra-
a mind. tive paintings, ballets, and so on, in Howards
However, even though Henry represents theEnd we do not simply find a bunch of characters
best-with respect to his family-of the practi- willy-nilly. Rather the cast of characters bears
cal approach to life, he is still wanting, precisely, notably strong, highly structured, systematically
as we see through the contrast with Margaret varied, and subtly polarized relations of compar-
Schlegal, because of his lack of imagination. Heison and contrast to each other, particularly
is unable to grasp the analogy between his previ-along the dimension of virtue. In this respect,
ous illicit relation to Mrs. Bast and Helen's virtue wheels recall the structures of studied
transgression of conventional morality; he is variations
un- and contrasts found in philosophical
able to see that as Margaret forgave him,thought
so experiments dedicated to concept dis-
should he forgive Helen. Also, he lacks crimination.
any
imagination of the sort Helen has in unfortunate In literary fictions such as Howards End,
overabundance; he lacks empathy. these comparisons and contrasts are apt to strike
any moderately attentive reader, who, in addi-
His lack of empathy, in turn, brings Margaret
to an awareness of the proper balance between tion, is aided in this by what the author and the
imagination and practicality in the virtuous life.
characters say. These variations-these compar-
Realizing that the claims of the practical and isons
the and contrasts-prompt the audience to
conventional cannot reasonably extinguish the apply concepts of virtue and vice to the charac-
claims of imaginative empathy, Margaret defiesters, thus exercising and sharpening their ability
Henry's refusal to allow Helen to stay over to at recognize instances of these otherwise often
Howards End. Thus, Margaret illustrates vaguelythe defined or highly abstract concepts.54 In
proper coordination of practicality with imagi-
this, such virtue wheels serve the purposes of
nation, of conventional morality with empathy,moral education by enabling readers to recog-
in a way that also sheds light upon defective nize
and better, as Trollope might say, things like

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true honesty and false love. Moreover, this is ary thought experiments are not bereft of argu-
clearly a contribution to our moral lives, since a ment and analysis; rather, they set up the argu-
large part of our moral lives is not simply con- ment, while pointing the way to certain con-
cerned with how to act, but with issuing moral clusions, and they prime the analysis that is
judgments about others.55 completed in the mind of the reader. In this re-
But virtue wheels can do more than cultivate spect, they are doubly educative: not only do
our capacities for moral perception; they can they afford knowledge of concepts of virtue, but
also call attention to the criteria we depend upon they guide the reader through the process of
in judging the moral character of others. Thusconducting a grammatical investigation of the
not only do virtue wheels exhibit a comparablevirtues by arraying in a structured way imagined
structure to philosophical thought experiments;examples that point toward pertinent distinc-
they may also perform the same function. Thattions.
is, not only do thought experiments of the vir- When a literary thought experiment is sum-
tue-wheel variety exercise and refine our skillsmarized in the way in which I have just expli-
of moral judgment; they can also help to makecated Howards End, it is likely to sound preachy
explicit the conditions upon which those judg-rather than maieutic. However, Howards End is
ments rest by studiously varying the similarities not experienced as a catechism.57 Rather, one
and differences between the various characters senses that there is something wrong with Helen,
situated on the same virtue wheel. If we with- for example, and then tries to put one's finger on
hold the concept of imagination, properly so what it is. This often occurs not while reading
called, from Helen, who possesses it at best neu-proper, but when reflecting on it either between
rotically, but award it to Margaret, we may (and chapters or after one has finished the book.58 In
may even be likely) to ask ourselves, "Why is this context, the contrasts available through the
that?" The virtue wheel then enables us to high- virtue wheel come into play and help clarify the
light that a sense of practicality-including carenature of Helen's flawed imagination, which, in
and concern for those who are closest to us-is a turn, inclines one to think about what it is about
constituent of genuine imaginativeness in our Margaret that makes her variation on the theme
commerce with others. of imagination appropriate. That this sort of re-
That is, a virtue wheel can provide the oppor- flection about characters is a natural part of read-
tunity for initiating a guided conceptual analysis ing novels is I think undeniable. But it needs to
or grammatical investigation into the notion of be understood that this reflection not only exer-
true imagination, or true honesty, or false loy- cises our capacities for recognizing what falls
alty. In this way, the literary thought experimentunder the concept of a given virtue, but also for
can, like the philosophical thought experiment, contemplating the kinds of characterological
function as an argument in the service of con- properties that lead us to apply the concept in
ceptual discrimination, and it is able to do this, question or to deny it.
in part, because it possesses a comparable struc- Literary fictions then can afford knowledge of
ture. concepts, such as concepts of virtue, by stimulat-
As in the case of many philosophical thought ing the reader to an awareness, through reflective
experiments, literary thought experiments suchself-analysis, of the conditions, rules, and crite-
as Howards End rely on the audience to note the ria for her application of said concepts.59 Al-
relevant conceptual discriminations and to reach though in some cases a literary thought experi-
the pertinent conclusions. In this sense, they arement might suggest a necessary or sufficient
rhetorical-they call upon the antecedent re-condition for the application of such concept, if
sources of the reader-but they are rhetorical in you are wary of the existence of such criteria,
a way that is not divorced from argumentation you need not abandon this line of defense of lit-
(since a rhetorical question, for example, can be erature as a source of conceptual knowledge of
argumentative).56 The argument, however, oc- our existing cognitive map; since even the skep-
curs in the mind of the reader, either while pro-tic about principles such as these can grant that
cessing the text, or, more likely, during itswhat we may learn from fictional thought exper-
reflective afterlife (whether pursued in conver- iments are reminders of the sort of importance
sation with ourselves or with others). Thus, liter- that a property can have in the application of the

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relevant concepts in suitable situations.60 That is, sideration of the character attributes that ground
for example, Henry's case from Howards End those assessments. Here we point to the features
may serve as a reminder that in certain situa- of the characters that warrant our judgments, pro
tions, if practicality is to be considered virtuous, and con. And this, in large measure, involves
it needs to be tempered or supplemented by pointing to the virtues and vices of the charac-
imagination. ters. As we compare and contrast what we have
Indeed, in reflecting on the scope of our con- observed about the characters with the views of
ceptual discoveries-in determining whether we others, and as we weigh our judgments against
have found an invariant condition for some con- what others have to say, we are, of course, en-
cept or only a reminder of an important variable gaging in a process of reflective equilibrium
in certain contexts-the worry about the vague- about the aptness of our applications of concepts
ness (with respect to quantification) of literary of virtue and vice that, among other things,
implications can be allayed somewhat on the brings to the fore or makes available to us an
grounds that encouraging the reader to deter- awareness of the conditions in accordance with
mine the generality or specificity of the gram- which we make those applications and issue our
matical disclosures in question is also part of the judgments.
educative function of literature and art.61 Often informal conversation and debate of
So far I have been urging against the no-argu- this sort explicitly interrogates disputants' use of
ment argument that virtue wheels in literature this or that virtue in describing this or that char-
and art (or at least some of them) can be re- acter. Is so-and-so correct in calling such-and-
garded as thought experiments because they such a character shy rather than aloof,65 arrogant
possess comparable structures (a polarized set of rather than magnanimous, reckless rather than
contrasts) and perform comparable functions courageous? Does the ingenue have character,
(such as eliciting conceptual discrimination), as properly so called, or merely personality? This
do certain philosophical thought experiments.62 then can quickly escalate into questions about
But is there any reason to believe that virtue what it means to call a behavior or a character
wheels really operate this way? There should be truly courageous, or cowardly, or reckless.66
no problem in admitting the existence of virtue And at this point-in what I conjecture is a rep-
wheels in much art, notably narrative art, includ- resentative scenario of informal discussions of
ing not only literature, but also theater, film, TV, narrative art-our conversationalists have em-
narrative painting and sculpture, ballet, modem barked upon something that can be unequi-
dance, and so on. The virtue wheel is a structure vocably described as a form of conceptual anal-
that we encounter again and again in artworks, ysis.
particularly narratives with more than one char- I believe that philosophers and theorists do
acter. But why believe that it can function to not pay enough heed to the ordinary transactions
promote the kind of conceptual discrimination I that transpire between artworks and their audi-
have been advertising as one of its potentials? ences, despite the fact that this is an obvious
Perhaps some evidence for this hypothesis place to look for the lineaments of our artistic
can be found in the typical response of plain au- practices. Instead, they often build their theories
diences to narrative artworks. What do ordinary in response to certain epistemological con-
folk (or even academics when they leave the straints that have little to do with the actual re-
classroom and conference hall) talk about after ception of art. Perhaps this is why philosophers
they see a play or a film, or the morning after the and theorists have so little to say about charac-
airing of a TV show, or when they discuss a new ters, often referring to them gingerly by means
novel? They talk about characters. Though the of technical phrases such as "character func-
discussion of character is not a major concern in tions." But this is not how typical consumers of
contemporary theoretical approaches to the art and literature regard them. Not only do they
arts,63 it is usually the first order of business in very often read for character-read because of
informal discussions of narrative artworks.64 their interest in characters-but they understand
Frequently, people begin by discussing their these characters in terms of virtually the same
likes and dislikes regarding the characters. But person schemas they use to understand each
this, where opinions differ, soon leads to a con- other in everyday life.

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Literature and narrative art, then, become a rored or replicated inwardly in the mind of the
means of exploring those person schemas in con-reader, viewer, or listener.70
versations (with either oneself or others) in the So one piece of evidence that virtue wheels
reflective afterlife of the text. Moreover, large function as thought experiments that elicit con-
portions of those person schemas are constitutedceptual discrimination is the easily observed
by our concepts of virtue and vice-for what is itcourse of informal discussions of narrative
to be or to have a character, in art or life, otherartworks that, in addition, I hypothesize provid
than to possess an ensemble of virtues and reasonable access to solitary modes of apprecia
vices?67 Indeed, it is probably no accident that tion. But there is further evidence for my case
we use the same word-"character"-to refer to about virtue wheels in the history of our artistic
fictional beings and the ensemble of virtuesinstitutions
of in general and literature in particular
existing persons. Thus, the ordinary tendencyFor to unquestionably, in many of the artistic tradi-
read for character leads ineluctably to a contem- tions of Asia, Africa, and Europe, art from time
plation of virtue and vice as well as, quite fre- immemorial has served as a means for teaching
quently, to reflection upon our application of about and meditating upon virtue and vice, often
those concepts in everyday life.68 by example.71
It may seem strained on my part to attempt toIn our own tradition, not only do Greek plays
derive evidence for the conceptual discrimina- such as Antigone feature virtue wheels-or per-
tion putatively evoked by the virtue wheel from haps more aptly "vice wheels"-for this purpose,
ordinary conversations after a movie or a play. but medieval art is generally didactic to this ef-
Those conversations, as I have indicated, typi- fect. The mystery play Mankind limns the con-
cally begin with the expression of likes and dis- trast between Mercy and its antipodes al-
likes, preferences and aversions to characters. legorically, while Chaucer's "The Pardoner's
However, these preferences, I submit, are con- Tale" explores avarice by means of an exem-
nected to our perception and contemplation plar.72 of There can be no doubt that the function of
virtues and vices, since alluding to the presence this sort of literature is to engender the contem-
of virtue or vice serves as among our central rea- plation of virtue and vice. Moreover, this practice
sons for preferring or disapproving of human did not end with the Middle Ages but continued
qualities (in ourselves and others) in daily af- into the eighteenth century, when the most popu-
fairs.69 Thus, when challenged (by others or our- lar English play of the period was The London
selves) about our preference for this or that char-Merchant: Or, The History of George Barnwell
by George Lillo, an allegory contrasting the vir-
acter, it is natural for us to cite virtues in support
of our judgments. And where the debate contin- tue of industry with the vice of idleness, clearly
ues (as it often does), this then naturally leadsfor tothe purpose of inviting (coercing might be a
the contemplation of the virtues in question better in word) viewers to ponder these traits and
terms of the ways in which they are manifested their vicissitudes. This play was still well known
and identified (in both life and art). in the nineteenth century, as Dickens's allusion
That is, the distance between our ordinary re- to it in Great Expectations bears witness, and its
actions to narrative artworks and reflection on influence may, in part, account for the continued
our concepts of the virtues (and vices) is a short use of virtue wheels in the work of Dickens.
one and one that is frequently and naturally tra- In Dickens, of course, the virtue wheel is
versed, given the structure of the social arena inmore submerged in realistic detail than it is in
which we communicate our responses to The London Merchant, just as in The London
artworks. Moreover, inasmuch as the dialectical Merchant the allegory is more naturalized than
formats of our public responses to art serve as it is in Mankind.73 However, the structure is still
models for our solitary acts of interpretation and apparent in the nineteenth-century novel, and, I
appreciation-inasmuch as the outside is taken suggest, there is no reason to suppose that the
and restaged inside-I feel confident in specu- structure is not still acquitting the same role in
lating that the vector toward conceptual discrim- Dickens that it did when it was invented. That is,
ination that flows naturally, prompted by the what seems to have occurred historically is that,
virtue wheel (and comparable devices), in the over time, the virtue wheel, though remaining a
public contemplation of characters, is often mir- recurrent literary structure, has, so to speak,

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moved progressively into the background, the this manner not only to differentiate characters,
author refraining from explicitly hammering its such as Harry and Draco, but even the major divi-
lesson home to the reader, but nevertheless leav- sions of their school, Hogwarts. As we are told in
ing it there for the reader to find and to explore Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Gryffindor,
on her or his own.74 Harry's house, is associated with the trait of brav-
By the time of a modern novel such as ery, Ravenclaw with cleverness, Hufflepuff with
Howards End, the presence of the virtue wheel is hard work and conscientiousness, and Slytherin
far more subtle than it is in Dickens. There are with ambition. That moder parents still have an
undoubtedly many reasons for this, including the abiding interest in introducing their children to
displacement of the importance of religion in reading and to the contemplation of virtue simul-
Western civilization, the development of a taste taneously is readily borne out by the popularity of
for participatory readership, and mutations, due books such as The Book of Virtues,80 The Moral
to different circumstances, in our conceptions of Compass,8' What is Man: 3,000 Years of Manly
the virtues.75 However, again, I see no reason, Virtue,82 and The African American Book of
despite the evolution of the virtue wheel in liter- Values;83 each of these books contains stories
ary practice (both with regard to readers and overtly indexed to specific virtues, inviting
writers), to suppose that it does not often per- young readers to master the application of the rel-
form the same function in the modern works evant abstract concept through an encounter with
(where it appears) that it performed in earlier a concrete case.
works, namely, as a contrastive structure that There can be little doubt that the intention of
abets meditation upon and contemplation of thethese books, like so many other children
virtues.76 Thus, on the grounds of literary historybooks, is to introduce youngsters at one and t
and precedent, I argue that, given the historicalsame time into the practice of reading fictio
nature of our practices, the virtue wheel remains and that of reading character. Reading storie
a potential source of thought experimentation and contemplating virtue are, in a manner o
concerning virtue and its conceptualization. To speaking, intertwined from the outset, not on
say that this is not part of our literary institutionin the history of literature, but also in the expe
is historically mistaken.77 ence of beginning readers. We are recruited in
Further evidence on behalf of my account of the practice of reading fiction from the start,
the virtue wheel lies in our practices of induct- to speak, under the presumption that tracki
ing children into the appreciation of narrative virtue is an appropriate aspect of appreciatin
art, whether written or oral. We tell or read themfiction. There are no grounds to think that th
things such as fairy tales, which are often struc-alertness to virtue ever disappears in our readi
tured, in part, in terms of virtue wheels designedor that it should disappear. In fact, there is ever
explicitly to encourage moral education.78 reason to think that it does not, since authors a
Stories like Charles Perrault's classic, self-con- pear to persist in addressing it by producing f
sciously moralistic "Cinderella, or the Littletions replete with virtue wheels every day.84 N
Glass Slipper," with its studied contrast betweendoes it make much sense to claim that reading
the selfless, modest, generous, honest, ever-order to contemplate virtue, where the text su
patient Cinderella, on the one hand, versus herports it, is not a proper part of our literary inst
selfish, vain, grasping, deceptive, and impulsivetution, since it seems to be such a fundament
sisters, on the other, lay before the child a rudi-feature of our literary education.
mentary scheme of virtues and vices in order to Before concluding, I should at least commen
engage in a guided exploration, often in conver-briefly on some of the more predictable lines
sation with an adult, of the application of the rel-objection to the position I have sketched. The
evant trait-terms to particular cases. Thus, thefirst protests that I have left little room for th
moral elucidation of character comes part and emotions in this account; I have made readin
parcel with one's initiation into the practice ofsound too much like a rarefied exercise in gram
reading narrative fiction.79 matical analysis, on the one hand, and too mu
Nor is this simply an artifact of the seventeenthlike pedagogy, on the other. But it is even mo
century. The contemporary children's best seller,obviously an affair of the passions. And where
the Harry Potter series, employs virtue wheels in that acknowledged in my story?

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Clearly, this objection would be troubling, if poses other than argumentation, and (3) they are
my account excluded any role for the emotions. too elaborate.88 But these apparent disanalogies
But, of course, it does not, since the emotions are not decisive.
play a role in our discerning, refining, and iden- Artistic thought experiments may have pur-
tifying the virtues. That is, the way in which we poses other than argumentation, such as enter-
react emotionally to the characters variously tainment, but entertainment may also have, and
placed on the virtue wheel is an integral part of often does have, a role in the construction of
our reflection on what, for example, counts as a philosophical thought experiments;89 often the
virtue or a vice of parenthood or of true imagi- funnier and more intriguing the philosophical
native empathy.85 Our emotional responses not thought experiment, the better. Moreover,
only draw us to attend to certain character traits whether or not an artistic thought experiment is
rather than others, but also enter into our reflec- addressed to a problem can be determined by an
tive weighting of certain character traits vis a interpretation of the pertinent text and, in fact,
vis others. Or, to say it differently, emotional some literary texts explicitly indicate the prob-
responses are part of the mix of factors that are lem that motivates them, as does Howards End.
engaged in deliberating about the application of On the other hand, it is also the case that some-
virtue concepts in reaction to fictional thought times philosophical thought experiments require
experiments. In that sense, grammatical analy- interpretation before one is sure of precisely the
sis does not preclude the relevance of emo- problem they are addressing.90
tion.86 And furthermore, there is a reason why liter-
In a related objection, one might argue that ary texts concerned with the conceptual clari-
the defense of the possibility of literature and art fication of the virtues are more elaborate than
as a source of knowledge and education about typical philosophical thought experiments. De-
the virtues is too remote from pleasure. We read termining whether an action is virtuous often
for pleasure. The idea that reading is connected depends in part on the hidden motives and feel-
to moral education is too puritanical. But as with ings of the agent.91 One must have access to
the emotions, it is a mistake to presume that them in order to assess the action. This is some-
pleasure and the sort of reflection that I have thing that literature is especially good at provid-
emphasized are necessarily alien. For if pleasure ing, though, in order to do so, far more exposi-
correlates with the unimpeded exercise of the tion is required than what one typically finds in a
faculties,87 then there is no cause to suspect that philosophical thought experiment.92 Indeed, this
the maieutic acquisition of conceptual knowl- is related to a frequent source of complaint
edge of the virtues from literature must lack about philosophical thought experiments in eth-
pleasure, since it may exercise our powers of re- ics, viz., that they are too abbreviated.93
flection and discovery appreciably. It affords Moreover, virtues often need to be coordi-
self-knowledge about our conceptual scheme, nated with other virtues and traits in order to ob-
and social knowledge of our mores, and it re- tain in a complexly individuated situation.94 All
fines our cognitive map of the world for the pur- this requires an immense amount of stage-set-
pose of judging others. All this occurs in a ting, because so many variables are involved, in-
participatory fashion that may not only be re- cluding not only the situation and its back-
warding, but absorbing and exciting. Moreover, ground, but also the relevant hidden motives and
there is scant reason to imagine that this plea- feelings of the characters, the complicated inter-
sure is not artistically relevant, since, as I have play of many virtues and traits, and so on. Thus,
shown, the contemplation of virtue is a long- it is the complexity of the task that justifies the
standing aim of the arts. elaborateness of the literary thought experi-
From another direction, it might be objected ment;95 the elaborateness is not evidence that
that my argument depends essentially on an illicit such inventions are not, at least in part, thought
analogy between philosophical thought experi- experiments. Indeed, literature is so effective a
ments and artistic ones. Artistic thought experi- tool for illuminating our concepts of virtue just
ments are not akin to philosophical ones, it might because, like virtue itself, it is context sensitive.
be said, because (1) they are not directed at ad- It is often said that literary examples are far
dressing problems explicitly, (2) they have pur- more effective in eliciting ethical understanding

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than are abstract philosophical arguments.96 One of the virtue wheel can proceed without reflec-
reason for this is that, though more simplified tion upon the ways in which the relevant virtues
and structured than actual cases,97 they are much stand in everyday life and not just with reference
richer in detail-about motives, feelings, cir- to the text at hand, since we will have to go out-
cumstances, social relations, and interconnected side the text, comparing fictional cases to real
personality traits-than typical philosophical ar- ones, in order to arrive at conclusions about
guments and thought experiments. They are, in a whether characters do or do not really instantiate
word, more concrete than routine philosophical the virtues and vices in question.
thought experiments, and this concreteness, in Once the reader has begun to contemplate the
turn, is connected to their effectiveness in stimu- pertinent virtues and their putative status in a
lating ethical understanding.98 Thus, the elabo- given literary work, it is natural for her or him to
rateness of literary examples is not grounds for reflect on how the characterizations implied by
disqualifying them as thought experiments, but the text apply outside the text. How are we to de-
rather grounds for appreciating them as thought termine which virtues are true and which are
experiments that have special cognitive require- false without considering the application of the
ments and advantages. relevant concepts outside the text? Moreover,
One final objection pertains to my use of vir- not only does this happen with great frequency;
tue wheels in this argument. On my account, there is no justification in thinking that it is not a
these structures function argumentatively to warranted response, since, as I have shown, the
promote conceptual analysis and discovery for use of literature as a vehicle for contemplating
their intended audiences. Philosophers such as the virtues is a historically well-precedented and
Lamarque and Olsen are likely to agree that the deeply ingrained function of our practice.99
evidence for virtue wheels in literature is over- In conclusion, then, despite the banality argu-
whelming, but to deny that they ever performment, the no-evidence argument, and the no-ar-
the function that I have assigned to them. Forgument argument, I do not feel compelled to be-
Lamarque and Olsen, virtue wheels, i.e., subtly lieve that literature and art cannot provide a
contrasting character traits, are really formal orsource of knowledge and a contribution to edu-
organizational devices constructed by authors tocation, especially moral knowledge and edu-
imbue their texts with unity. The virtue wheel incation with respect to the virtues. One way of es-
Howards End, for example, contributes to keep-tablishing this conclusion is to notice that
ing the story together as a complex series ofliterary works can be regarded as thought experi-
variations on a theme. Isolating the virtue wheelments that encourage conceptual discrimination
is part of an interpretation of the work, but onlyof our virtue schemas through the imaginative
insofar as it enhances our appreciation of the deployment of structures of studied contrasts
structured coherence of the novel. that function argumentatively. Since the knowl-
But this seems to me to be unconvincing for edge in question is conceptual, it makes no dif-
several reasons. The first is that working out the ference that the cases are fictional. Since the edu-
contours of the virtue wheel itself requires that cation involved concerns the refinement of our
we reflect on our virtue concepts not only de- grasp of virtue concepts, it is not best described
scriptively but normatively. That is, we cannot as banal or platitudinous, but rather as affording
reconstruct the virtue wheel without realizing added insight into that which we already know.
that genuine empathy requires-as it obtains in This need not always be taken as a mere repeti-
real life-a subtle mixture of imagination and tion of familiar knowledge but can be an amplifi-
practicality. But to do this, we must go outside cation or refinement thereof. Admittedly, much
the text and its formal structures. If we do not do of the work of argument and analysis served up
so, we will not be able to chart the relation of by art, especially art that employs virtue wheels,
true virtue to defective and vicious instantiations transpires in the mind of the audience. But in that
of neighboring traits. To appreciate the organiz- respect, artworks function no differently than
ing work the virtue wheel performs, in other philosophical thought experiments.l00 Thus, in
words, requires the kind of conceptual reflection the great and ongoing quarrel between philoso-
that brings with it enlightenment. In fact, it is phy and poetry, philosophy cannot win without
hard to see how getting clear about the structure undermining itself. 01

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NOEL CARROLL A film might remind us of the evidence we know of already,

but it cannot supply the relevant evidence itself. Imaginary
Department of Philosophy
situations cannot supply real data." See Bruce Russell, "The
University of Wisconsin-Madison Philosophical Limits of Film," Film and Philosophy (Spe-
Madison, Wisconsin 53706 cial Edition, 2000): 166-167.
12. Beardsley, Aesthetics, p. 416.
13. In the novel The Name of the World by Denis John-
1. Anthony Trollope, An Autobiography (London: Wil-
son, when Seth complains to the novelist Kit that his (Kit's)
liams and Norgate, 1946), p. 196 (originally published in
characters
1883). A similar sentiment is voiced by Leibniz, who says,
are not morally instructive, Kit replies, "Hey,
come on, Seth. They're fictional. Do you really hope to get
"The chief end of history, as also of poetry, should be to
your moral lessons from people who don't exist?"
teach prudence and virtue by examples, and then to display
vice in such a way as to create aversion to it and to14. Defenders of the hypothesis/confirmation approach
prompt
man to avoid it, or serve towards that end." See G. W. include Peter Mew, "Facts in Fiction," The Journal of Aes-
thetics and Art Criticism 31 (1973): 329-337; and David
Leibniz, Theodicy, trans. E. M. Huggard (London: Rout-
ledge and Kegan, 1951), p. 217. Novitz, Knowledge, Fiction, and Imagination (Temple Uni-
2. Monroe C. Beardsley, Aesthetics: Problems in the Phi- versity Press, 1987). Likewise, Ira Newman argues that liter-
losophy of Criticism (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1981). This text
ature can provide models for understanding in his Fiction
was originally published in 1958 by Harcourt, Brace & and Discovery: Imaginative Literature and the Growth of
World. Knowledge.
3. Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugom Olsen, Truth, Fic- 15. Beardsley, Aesthetics, p. 385.
tion, and Literature: A Philosophical Perspective (Oxford: 16. Ibid., p. 416.
Clarendon, 1994). 17. Peter Kivy, "On the Banality of Literary Truths,"
4. In this essay, I will only be concerned with epistemic Philosophic Exchange 28 (1997-1998): 22.
18. Ibid.
arguments against the possibility of art and literature serving
as vehicles of moral education and knowledge. There are 19. Lamarque and Olsen, Truth, Fiction, and Literature,
also aesthetic arguments that maintain that art and literature pp. 332-333.
should not be viewed from a cognitive point of view, 20. Ibid., p. 320.
whether moral or otherwise. I will not be concerned with the 21. Edmund Husserl, Ideas, trans. W. R. Boyce Gibson
aesthetic arguments here, since I have dealt with them else-(London: Allen and Unwin, 1932), pp. 57 and 198-201.
where. 22. Charles Sanders Peirce, Collected Papers (Harvard
5. Indeed, I do think there are other ways, but I focus onUniversity Press, 1931-1958), 3.527 and 3.516.
the one examined in this essay because I think it has been 23. Roy A. Sorensen, Thought Experiments (New York:
underexplored so far and because I think it is particularly ef-Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 51.
fective against epistemic anxieties about literature as a 24. Gilbert Ryle, Philosophical Arguments (Oxford: Ox-
source of knowledge and education, especially moral educa- ford University Press, 1945), p. 6.
tion. 25. Sorensen, Thought Experiments, p. 6.
6. Richard L. Purtill, "Truth in Fiction" (photocopy 26. C. Mason Myers, "Analytical Thought Experiments,"
[Western Washington University, n.d.], p. 4). Cited in Ira Metaphilosophy 17 (1986): 109.
Newman, Fiction and Discovery: Imaginative Literature 27. Ernst Mach claimed that thought experiments exploit
and the Growth of Knowledge, Ph.D. diss., University of our fund of unarticulated experience. See Sorensen, Thought
Connecticut, Storrs, 1984, p. 38. Experiments, p. 4.
7. Christopher New, Philosophy of Literature: An Intro- 28. C. Mason Myers refers to this as the transformation of
duction (London: Routledge, 1999), p. 110. ability knowledge into propositional knowledge. He de-
8. Beardsley, Aesthetics, p. 379. scribes the process thusly: "We can reflect on our exercise of
9. Ibid., p. 380. an intellectual ability in a way resulting in the formulation of
10. New, Philosophy of Literature: An Introduction, pp. rules or principles governing the proper exercise of that abil-
120-121. ity and this way we become aware of certain conceptual rela-
11. In a similar vein, John Hospers writes, "It cannottions"
be ("Analytical Thought Experiments," p. 109).
29. Tamar Szabo Gendler, Thought Experiment: On the
one of the functions of literature to state facts, nor can a liter-
Powers
ary work rightly be valued, wholly or in part, for the truth of and Limits of the Imaginary Cases (New York: Gar-
land, 2000), pp. 12 and 25.
the factual statements it contains, since authors of literary
works do not employ the scientific techniques necessary for 30. C. Mason Myers, "Thought Experiments and Secret
Stores
the establishing of facts," and ". .. most of the statements in of Information," International Philosophical Quar-
terly 13 (1968), p. 191.
poems are not documented enough for us to be able to verify
them." See John Hospers, Meaning and Truth in the Arts 31. Sorensen, Thought Experiments, p. 15.
(University of North Carolina Press, 1949), p. 157. More re- 32. Such as the stories J. L. Austin retailed in order to
cently, Bruce Russell argues, "No one can establish onmovethe readers to see distinctions between accidental doings,
inadvertent doings, and mistakes in his "A Plea for Ex-
basis of, for instance, A Simple Plan that people will proba-
bly get caught or that their lives will be made miserable if
cuses," in Philosophical Papers, ed. J. O. Urmson and G. J.
they commit a heinous deed. It is the actual rate of being
Warnock (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 175-
caught and the actual percentage of people who are made204.
un-Similarly, law schools employ a profusion of hypotheti-
happy after committing a horrible act, that determines cal cases in order to teach students the conceptual contours,
whether it is reasonable to believe that 'crime doesn't pay.'
implications, and conceptual dependencies of the law. (See

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Gendler, Thought Experiment: On the Powers and Limits of life also figures in Kivy's "On the Banality of Literary
Imaginary Cases, p. 14.) Truth," where he argues that the argumentation and analysis
33. See S. I. Benn, "Wickedness," in Ethics and Person- alleged to be lacking in literature by proponents of the no-ar-
ality: Essays in Moral Psychology, ed. John Deigh (Univer- gument argument are supplied by the reader in the reflective
sity of Chicago Press, 1992), pp. 201-205. afterlife of the text (see pp. 22-23).
34. There can be little doubt that Ursula Le Guin's short 44. Arthur Danto, The Transfiguration of the Common-
story "The Ones Who Walk Away from the Omelas" is a place: A Philosophy ofArt (Harvard University Press, 1981),
thought experiment designed to challenge utilitarianism. In- chaps. 1 and 2, respectively.
deed, one could assign it to a class with that very purpose in 45. Here my use of the notion of conceptual knowledge
mind. should not be confused with Putnam's use in "Literature,
35. Moreover, it is important to remember that sometimes Science, and Reflection." Putnam appears to mean the no-
philosophical thought experiments require interpretations in tion to refer to knowledge of possible lives, arguing that this
order to be located, identified, and understood. Should the is a way in which literature can function as a source of
skeptic complain at this point that the preceding argument knowledge (knowledge of life possibilities). I use "concep-
depends upon interpreting the artwork, that will not compro- tual knowledge" in a more prosaic and traditional manner,
mise my point unless the skeptic also argues that truthful namely, as "knowledge of concepts." However, I do not dis-
and/or plausible interpretations of the sort required are, in pute Putnam's strategy for defending literature as a source of
principle, impossible. Perhaps, needless to say, I do not find knowledge. It is another way of getting the job done, though
such a position persuasive, though discussion of this dialec- a different way from the one pursued in this essay.
tical counter would require another article. 46. Their name, Schlegal, of course associates them ono-
36. E. M. Forster, "What I Believe," from Cheers for De- mastically with German Idealism and its emphasis on the
mocracy (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1967). imagination, since the sound of their name reminds one of
37. I owe this example to Lester Hunt. Friedrich and August Wihelm Schlegel.
38. Also, Martins struggles palpably with the question of 47. Fictions are often preoccupied with the question of
loyalty. At one point, Anna sways him in the direction of balancing one's commitments virtuously. Jane Austin's Per-
abiding by his friendship for Lime. It is only after that that he suasion, for instance, examines the danger of letting oneself
decides for the Allies, when Callahan shows him documen- be persuaded unduly by the claims of prudence and the prac-
tation of Lime's victims. tical advice of one's elders.
39. Furthermore, if philosophical defenses of theses al- 48. Gendler, Thought Experiment, p. 27.
ready known are saved from charges of banality in virtue of 49. Indeed, her notion of parenting reduces simply to dis-
their philosophical thought experiments, then the argumen- cipline.
tative thought experiment posed by The Third Man should 50. Virtue wheels occur not only in novels; they can also
exonerate as well. occur in films and other art forms. For an analysis that does
40. Mark Kingwell suggests that Forster's maxim is stillnot
a use the concept of a virtue wheel explicitly but neverthe-
live issue. See Mark Kingwell, In Pursuit of Happiness less finds a structure analogous to the one in Great Expecta-
(New York: Crown, 2000), pp. 310-311. tions, see Joseph Kupfer's "The Virtues of Parenthood," in
41. That charges of banality must be relativized to in- his fascinating book Visions of Virtue in Popular Film
tended audiences-rather than supposing the relevant audi- (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999), pp. 91-122.
ence is always comprised of all and only sophisticated phi- 51. The idea of virtues as brakes can be found in G. H.
losophers and advanced thinkers-is noted in Peter Kivy, von Wright, Varieties of Goodness (Humanities Press, 1963)
"On the Banality of Literary Truths," p. 20, and Noel and Robert C. Roberts, "Will Power and the Virtues," in The
Carroll, "Art and Ethical Criticism," Ethics 110 (2000): 365. Virtues: Contemporary Essays on Moral Character, ed.
42. See, for example: Hilary Putnam, "Literature, Sci- Robert B. Kruschwitz and Robert C. Roberts (Belmont, CA:
ence, and Reflection," in his Meaning and the Moral Sci- Wadsworth, 1987), pp. 121-136.
ences (London: Routledge, 1978), pp. 83-96; Catherine Wil- 52. Another character who perhaps deserves mention
son, Philosophy 58 (1983): 489-496; R. W. Beardsmore, here is the first Mrs. Wilcox. In terms of the virtue wheel,
"Literary Examples and Philosophical Confusion," in Phi- she would appear to belong on the side of imagination, not
losophy and Literature, ed. A. Phillips Griffiths (Cambridge: merely for her almost mystical relation to nature, but also for
Cambridge University Press, 1984), pp. 59-73; Bernard Har- her impressive empathetic understanding. She is able to
rison, Inconvenient Fictions: Literature and the Limits know of what is going on with others-note how she knows
Theory (Yale University Press, 1991); John Passmore, Seri- about Helen's engagement at the beginning of the book-
ous Art (LaSalle, IL: Open Court, 1991); and Richard Eld- though no one understands how she does so. One also sup-
ridge, "Reading for Life," Arion 2 (1992): 187-197. This ap- poses that she has chosen Margaret as her successor just be-
proach is also discussed in Noel Carroll, "Art and Ethical cause she realizes that the Wilcox family needs imagination.
Criticism," p. 364; and Martin Warner, "Literature, Truth, The first Mrs. Wilcox is not an ideal fusion of imagination
and Logic," Philosophy 74 (1999): 51-54. and practicality, however, since she lacks, as Margaret does
43. Kivy introduces this notion in his "The Laboratory not, of the forcefulness to stand up to the worst tendencies of
Fictional Truth," Philosophies of Art: An Essay in Differ- her family. The Schlegals' aunt, on the other hand, functions
ences (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. as a comic contrast on the virtue wheel: she prides herself on
121-139. There he argues that it is part of the practice of lit-her practicality, but she has none; likewise, she is without
erary appreciation that readers confirm (or at least contem- imagination.
plate?) the truths advanced in literary works during what he53. For another example of a complex virtue wheel, con-
calls its "reflective afterlife." The notion of a reflective after-
sider this description of Tom Jones by L. J. Potts: "The plot

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of Tom Jones is a comic plot, based on the grouping of the Stone Face" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the requisite virtues
characters rather than on the sequence of the events. The are inferred by the reader in response to a series of failed
centre of the picture is the contrast between Tom and his candidates. This, in turn, leads the reader to anticipate that it
half-brother Blifil; between man as a spontaneous animal, is Ernest who possesses the relevant qualities.
and man as a calculating machine. But that by itself would 57. Anthony Palmer worries about the use of literature
not say more than a quarter of what Fielding has to say. The merely to illustrate theoretical doctrines. This, I surmise, he
book is not a defense of animalism; so Fielding gives us two regards as an offense against literature. But I hope that my
more "animals" to contrast with Tom, Squire Western and treatment of Howards End indicates that literary thought ex-
Molly Seagrim, the one deprived of his wits by coarse hab- periments need not function as thinly as Palmer fears. See
its, and the other deprived of honesty and self-respect by her Anthony Palmer, "Philosophy and Literature," Philosophy
bad heredity and environment. They throw into further relief 65 (1990): 151-166.
Tom's character, which is both sensitive and honest; and on 58. An experience I trust that no one will deny is part of
the other side there is Sophia, who has Tom's naturalness interacting with literature. No one, I believe, can imagine
without his faults. Again, in the Blifil camp there are two that literary experience is simply a matter of the experience
minor rascals, Thwackum and Square; they are as selfish and of reading what is on the page.
dishonest as he is, but they make him look blacker both be- 59. Although in this essay I have been emphasizing the
cause they lack his cool-headed cunning, and because they potential of artworks and particularly literature to promote
have some sort of principles; and they are themselves con- knowledge of virtue through concept discrimination, I think
trasted and receive different treatment in the end, for Square other forms of conceptual knowledge can also be obtained in
is at least free from the cruelty and ill-nature of Thwackum this way. The potential for literature to stimulate grammati-
and Blifil. There is also the contrast of Sophia's liveliness cal analyses of the emotions has been explored by Alex Neill
and breeding with the rather corrupt liveliness of Mrs. Fitz- in his "Fiction and the Education of the Emotion," a paper
patrick and the superficial breeding of Lady Bellaston; and delivered at the Annual Meetings of the American Society
yet another contrast between the selfish fecklessness of Par- for Aesthetics in Kansas City, 30 October, 1987. And Eileen
tridge and the disinterested fecklessness of Tom." See L. J. John has examined the way in which Grace Paley's story
Potts, Comedy (New York: Capricorn, 1966), pp. 133-134. "Wants" initiates a conceptual analysis of wanting (see
54. On the idea that literature aids the understanding of Eileen Johns, "Reading Fiction and Conceptual Knowledge:
highly abstract conceptions of the virtues by matching the Philosophical Thought in Literary Context," The Journal of
virtues with concrete cases-and thereby enhancing our ca- Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56 [1998]: 331-348).
pacity for making judgments of character-see Noel Carroll, Fictions can also illuminate the relation of certain virtues
"Art, Narrative, and Morality," in Aesthetics and Ethics, ed. to connected character traits and their rationales, affording
Jerrold Levinson (New York: Cambridge University Press, thereby insight into moral psychology. For an interesting
1998), p. 147. example of this with regard to popular Western fictions, see
55. Philosophers, such as Onora O'Neill, have argued Peter French, Cowboy Metaphysics (Lanham, MD:
that literary examples should not play a role in ethics, be- Rowman and Littlefield, 1997). Colin McGinn also illus-
cause they are too indeterminate. What appears to concern trates the power of literature to explore the conceptual rela-
her is that a literary example cannot be instructive about the tions underpinning the moral psychology of virtues and
way in which to act in a specific real-world situation, be- vices-for example, the relation of existential envy to pure
cause we cannot be certain that it matches the real-world sit- evil-in his Ethics, Evil and Fiction (Oxford: Oxford Uni-
uation in all morally relevant respects. Whether or not that is versity Press, 1997). Literary thought experiments also af-
true, however, is not pertinent to our proposal, since we are ford insight into moral metaphors of the sort explored by
not talking about deploying literary thought experiments for Mark Johnson in his Moral Imagination (University of Chi-
the purpose of making reliable decisions about whether to cago Press, 1993).
act one way or another. Rather, we are talking about clarify- 60. Jonathan Dancy, "The Role of Imaginary Cases in
ing our moral concepts. Even if literary thought experiments Ethics," p. 150.
are not reliable guides to action in concrete situations, that 61. In terms of my examples, I think that Great Expecta-
does not detract from their potential for moral education tions, conceived of, in part, as a thought experiment about
where that education does not involve their use as props for the virtues of parenting, identifies selfless love as a neces-
decisions about action, but involves sharpening the concepts sary condition of the virtue, whereas Howards End serves
we use in the judgments we make about the behavior of oth- merely to remind us that considerations of practicality are
ers, and even ourselves, as well as understanding the condi- relevant when determining whether an instance of empathy
tions upon which these judgments rest. Not all moral delib- should be counted as falling under the concept.
eration, I wish to stress, is a matter of deciding how we 62. In his Nobel Prize address, Joseph Brodsky said, "On
should act in a situation. Much moral deliberation is about the whole, every new aesthetic reality makes man's ethical
ascribing virtues and vices. This sort of judgment is as muchreality more precise." I like to think that one thing Brodsky
a part of morality as deciding about the way in whichhad we in mind by this was the virtue wheel and its potential for
shall act. Moreover, it is here that literary thought experi-sharpening conceptual discrimination. For a more extended
ments are particularly attractive. Nor, for the reasons just analysis of Brodsky's speech, see Marcia Muelder Eaton's
sketched, do O'Neill's anxieties suggest that we must resist presidential address, "Aesthetics: The Mother of Ethics?"
said attractions. See Onora O'Neill, "The Power of Exam- The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 55 (1997): 355-
ple," Philosophy 61 (1986): 5-29. 364.
56. Some works combine the virtue wheel and the struc- It may be thought that my exploration of virtue wheels
ture of the rhetorical question. For example, in "The Great
grants too much to the no-argument argument. It may be ob-

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served that we do not require as a condition of knowledge from the Xhosa Oral Tradition, ed. Harold Scheub (Univer-
communication and education in nonliterary fiction that pu- sity of Wisconsin Press, 1992), pp. 417-437.
tative insights be accompanied by argumentation, analysis, 72. Similarly, Ben Jonson's Volpone explores the vice of
and debate. We will consider such writing a vehicle of avarice through several gradations. Indeed, the entire genre
knowledge as long as the reader is able to come up with sup- of the comedy of humours is predicated on inviting reflec-
porting argument and evidence for the relevant claims on her tion on vice. And, in the noncomedic vein, Pilgrim's Prog-
or his own. Thus, the no-argument argument is too stringent ress and Fairie Queene are further famous examples of
in its presuppositions. I agree with this, but have proceeded works designed to engender meditation on the virtues.
as I have in order to give the no-argument argument its best 73. To refer to another art form than literature, a similar
shot. Also, what I have said about the virtue wheel is in the trajectory can be discerned in visual art. Not only medieval
same spirit as the present observation, since on my account art, but Renaissance fine art, such as Paolo Veronese's Mars
what the virtue wheel does is supply the reader with the ana- and Venus, invites contemplation of the virtues and their co-
lytic tools for constructing the pertinent conceptual discrimi- ordination (in Veronese's case, the coordination of warlike
nations. virtue and the virtues of love) in a highly allegorical mode.
63. Murray Smith, Engaging Characters (Oxford: Ox- Likewise, Donatello's Judith and Holofernes originally bore
ford University Press, 1995), pp. 17-20. the inscription "Behold the neck of pride severed by the
64. And if it is not always the first order of business-be- hand of humility," thereby encouraging viewers to meditate
cause sometimes folks start talking about the probability or on the relevant virtues through an allegorical representation.
improbability of the narrative-then it is the second order of This is the case with much religious, mythological, and his-
business (though, of course, discussions of probability them- torical painting and sculpture. However, one still discerns
selves are frequently connected to the probability of a cer- the presence of comparable virtue wheels, albeit submerged
tain character behaving one way or another given her or his in greater naturalistic detail, in the works of Hogarth. The
various virtues or vices). twelve plates of his Industry and Idleness are virtually an ad-
65. R. E. Ewin argues that this is a central preoccupation aptation of Lillo's The London Merchant.
of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Although Ewin does Dance, as well, can invite reflection on vice and virtue.
not speak of thought experiments or virtue wheels, it should The title of George Balanchine's "The Seven Deadly Sins:
be evident that his approach to Pride and Prejudice parallels Sloth, Pride, Anger, Gluttony, Lust, Avarice, Envy" is un-
my approach to Howards End as a type of conceptual analy- doubtedly self-explanatory. Likewise, the virtues can be-
sis. See R. E. Ewin, "Pride, Prejudice and Shyness," Philos- come the subject of a dance, as in the fairies' variations in
ophy 65 (1990): 137-154. The Sleeping Beauty. For an explication of this choreo-
66. Here it is hard to imagine that the dispute could pro- graphic sequence, see Sally Banes, Dancing Women (Lon-
ceed, unless it is supposed that people are talking about what don: Routledge, 1998), p. 52.
it really means to call someone courageous, rather than 74. It is not my contention that every artwork that con-
merely what one of the disputants means by the concept. tains a virtue wheel does so in order to promote conceptual
Thus the requirements of the debate itself pushes it onto the analysis, but only that a significant number do. In order for
territory of conceptual analysis and discrimination, properly us to ascribe to a virtue wheel in a given artwork the function
so called. of conceptual of discrimination, we must provide a plausible
67. N. J. H. Dent, The Moral Psychology of the Virtues interpretation of the work-one that shows the attribution is
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), p. 10. likely.
68. Such reflections are often prompted by anomalies, 75. It is undoubtedly due to the fact that time and circum-
stances change-and along with them conceptions of what
disturbances, or incongruities raised by the text itself, often
through the dialectic that underwrites the virtue wheel. constitutes virtue-that art and literature continue to employ
69. See Edmund Pincoffs, Quandaries and Virtues: virtue wheels and to promote meditation upon the virtues.
Against Reductivism in Ethics (University of Kansas Press, Literature and art will stay in the business of elucidating the
1986), p. 97. Pincoffs defines the virtues functionally as "... virtues, I predict, as long as the virtues and their conditions
those qualities that serve as reasons for preference in the or- of application evolve and subtly alter with changing circum-
dinary and not-so-ordinary exigencies of life." Although I stances. In this way, art performs one of its most culturally
am not convinced that this is an ultimately adequate defini- significant services.
tion of virtue, I do agree that this is at least an accurate char- 76. Structures of contrasting characters can also be found
acterization of how virtue talk operates in much ordinary dis- in modernist and postmodernist works from Musil's Man
course. Without Qualities (the contrast between Ulrich and Am-
70. For a discussion of the way in which public heim) to delibera-
Rushdie's Satanic Verses (the mutating contrasts
tion serves as a model for private deliberation, between theseetwoStuart
central protagonists).
Hampshire, Justice Is Conflict (Princeton University Press,
77. The skeptic might admit that although the virtue
2000). wheels that I have described were once a feature of the arts,
71. For an example of this from the Indian tradition, con- they no longer are. This challenge merits two responses.
sider the wall drawings of the life of Buddha on the great First, this concedes that sometimes, at least with reference to
cave temples of Ajanta; in part, these serve to illustrate his past art, virtue wheels function as I have outlined and, there-
virtues upon which viewers are intended to meditate and fore, with respect to the relevant works, interacting with
then, ideally, emulate. African traditions of oral storytelling them in the way sketched above is a legitimate mode of re-
also emphasize the virtues. Consider, for example, "A Man sponse. But, second, I am not convinced that one can say
Who Hides Food from his Family" by Nongenile Masithetha that virtue wheels of the sort we have been discussing have
Zenani, in The World and the Word: Tales and Observations disappeared from the scene. They are certainly widely in ev-

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idence in contemporary mass art. John Ford's film The Man writing, Lajos Egri calls this kind of differentiation "orches-
Who Shot Liberty Valence is structured, in terms of character tration," and, though not every orchestration yields what I
contrasts, around three versions of the virtue of manliness: have called a virtue wheel, it is clear how virtue wheels will
Senator Stoddard's, Tom Doniphon's, and, of course, Lib- evolve naturally out of this structure. Egri points out that or-
erty Valence's. Especially in terms of the contrast between chestration is necessary for dramatic conflict and interest.
the Senator and Doniphon, the spectator is asked to deliber- To the extent that this is so, we can continue to anticipate
ate about who is more truly virtuous, which, in turn, I think virtue-wheel-type structures into the foreseeable future,
compels the alert viewer to clarify what is and is not at stake where they will not only support dramatic conflict, but also,
in our concept of manliness. sometimes, promote conceptual discrimination. See Lajos
Of more recent filmmaking, David Bordwell has pointed Egri, The Art of Dramatic Writing (New York: Simon and
out that Hong Kong action films have become a public Schuster, 1960), pp. 114-124.
forum for carrying on a cultural debate about the nature of 85. That literary thought experiments are character-cen-
heroism. Sometimes this question is pursued by means of the tered-rather than principle-centered-makes them more
deployment of virtue wheels as described above. In Once suitable objects of emotional response than philosophical ar-
Upon a Time in Triad Society II, for example, criminal fig- guments. This, in turn, is connected to the need for literary
ures like the Dinosaur and Dagger are contrasted to the po- thought experiments to enlist a great deal of concrete detail
liceman (called Dummy) in order to argue that the genuine in comparison with philosophical argument, since emotional
hero is the man of commitment rather than the flashy responses require fleshed-out cases. Yet this accumulation
swordsman or the wily gambler/confidence man. This argu- of detail, as will be argued shortly, is not a reason to reject
ment, however, though initiated and guided by the film, fi- the literary thought experiment as a philosophical instru-
nally needs to be completed by the viewer who compares the ment, but only to acknowledge that its means vary with its
candidate-examples to her or his concept of heroism. ends. On narrative concreteness and the emotions, see Rob-
Closer to home, it should be obvious that virtue wheels ert C. Roberts, "Is Amusement an Emotion?" American
are rampant in television. In the first Star Trek series, Spock Philosophical Quarterly 25 (1988): 273.
exemplified the virtue of rationality, Dr. McCoy (tellingly 86. And of course, in any event, my discussion does not
nicknamed "Bones") stood for the virtue of authentic emo- preclude that artworks may also enlist emotional responses
tion, while it was left to Captain Kirk to coordinate these vir- for reasons other than concept clarification.
tues in an integrated, complete, and flourishing life. Like- 87. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1174a-l 177a.
wise, the current HBO situation comedy Sex in the City 88. Sorenson, Thought Experiments, pp. 222-223.
employs a virtue wheel in order to probe the nature of the 89. Moreover, it will not do to say that conceptual dis-
right combination of dispositions that modem courtship de- crimination is the essential goal of philosophical thought ex-
mands. Miranda represents the intellect, Samantha the body periments whereas entertainment is the central goal of art,
and sexual pleasure, and Charlotte a mixture of sentimental- conceptual discrimination being merely a subsidiary or pe-
ity and convention, while Carrie attempts to amalgamate the ripheral goal. For in some cases, conceptual discrimination
strengths and avoid the defects the aforesaid traits entail. In may be the primary aim of an artwork (and this can be re-
this way, Sex and the City explores the mores of Manhattan vealed by an interpretation). Indeed, in such examples, it
romance, while inviting the audience to reflect on the virtues may be the case that the entertainment value of the work in
it demands. I would also argue that virtue wheels also appear question serves the purpose of involving the audience in
in contemporary "serious" literature. However, this brief in- conceptual tasks (as is also true of the entertainment value of
ventory of mass artworks should reassure skeptics that the some philosophical thought experiments).
virtue wheel is still alive and well. 90. Many of Wittgenstein's thought experiments, for ex-
For information concerning my claims about Hong Kong
ample, require interpretation. Furthermore, the case of Witt-
filmmaking, see David Bordwell, Planet Hollywood (Har- genstein also shows that genuine thought experiments need
vard University Press, 2000), p. 42. not be accompanied by self-explicating commentary. The
78. In earlier times, the lives of the saints also often func- thought experiment-alone and unglossed-may stand as
tioned in this way. the argument in philosophy. There do not seem to be princi-
79. Martha Nussbaum writes: "When a child and a parentpled grounds for withholding the same license from litera-
begin to tell stories together, the child is acquiring essential
ture.
moral capacities." Martha Nussbaum, Cultivating Humanity 91. Jerome B. Schneewind, "Moral Problems and Moral
(Harvard University Press, 1997), p. 89. Philosophy in the Victorian Period," English Literature and
80. William Bennet, ed., The Book of Virtues: A Treasury British Philosophy, ed. S. P. Rosenbaum (University of Chi-
of Great Moral Stories (New York: Simon and Schuster,cago Press, 1971), pp. 196 and 203.
1983). 92. Perhaps this is why John Wisdom says, "Hate and
81. William Bennet, ed., The Moral Compass: Stories for love we knew before Plato, Flaubert or Proust wrote about
Life's Journey (New York: Simon and Shuster, 1985). them. Nevertheless, these men and others have given us a
82. Waller R. Newell, ed., What Is a Man: 3,000 Years of greater apprehension of the varieties of hatred and of love, of
Manly Virtue (New York: Regan Books, 1999). their entanglement with each other, and of their relations
83. Steven Barboza, ed., The African American Book of with honesty, honour, degradation, war and peace." See
Values (New York: Doubleday, 1998). "Tolerance," in Paradox and Discovery (Oxford: Blackwell,
84. One reason to believe this is that writers are still 1965), p. 139 (emphasis added).
taught in creative writing classes and in instruction manuals 93. Another reason that a fictional exploration of a virtue
would, perforce, have to be elaborate is that the factors that
to differentiate characters in terms of the sorts of sharp con-
trasts that sustain virtue wheels. In his manual of dramatic warrant the attribution of a virtue are often complex and sub-

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tly interacting. For example, bravery, according to Aristotle, 99. Lamarque and Olsen maintain that this sort of cogni-
involves facing and fearing the right things, for the right mo- tive value is not part of the literary institution because, they
tive, in the right way, at the right time, and to the right extent. allege, argumentation and debate about the substantial asser-
Articulating such a concept by means of a virtue wheel then tions of literary works are not part of the literary institution.
calls for nuanced and deep variations in terms of objects, mo- This is the second part of the no-argument argument-that
tives, occasions, responses, and degrees of response. To do critics do not debate the truth or falsity of the themes they
this with sensitivity obviously requires much more detail find in literary works. But I think Lamarque and Olsen are
than a breezy intuition pump would allow. just wrong about this. Marxist, feminist, gay, postcolonial,
94. As Lester Hunt says, there are subterranean connec- and otherwise politically minded critics often include in their
tions between the virtues. See his Character and Culture reviews and explications attempted refutations of the suppos-
(Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998), p. 79. It edly
is reactionary themes they uncover in canonical works.
For example, in her review of Philip Roth's The Human
these kinds of connections that literature excels in disclosing.
Stain, Lorrie Moore challenges the accuracy of Roth's char-
95. Part of the task of a fictional thought experiment often
involves establishing the possibility of something. But,acterization
as of what is called "political correctness" on
David Lewis notes, this calls for elaborate detail. He says: American campuses. See Lorrie Moore, "The Wrath of
"Fiction might serve as a means for discovery of modal truth.Athena," New York Times, 7 May 2000, p. 7. And for a less
I find it very difficult to tell whether there could be such politicized
a example, consider Daniel Mendelsohn's review
thing as a dignified beggar. If there could be, a story couldof Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love in The New York
Review
prove it. The author of a story in which it is true that there is a of Books, vol. 47 (10 August 2000): 58-64. Here,
pace Lamarque and Olsen, we find sustained historical criti-
dignified beggar would both discover and demonstrate that
cism of the fidelity of Stoppard's depiction to the life of A. E.
there does exist such a possibility. An actor or a painter might
Houseman. Likewise, in his "The Greatest Generation (Re-
accomplish the same. Here the fiction serves the same pur-
vised)," a review of Gore Vidal's novel The Golden Age, An-
pose as an example in philosophy, though it will not work un-
less the story of the dignified beggar is more fully worked drew
out Sullivan takes Vidal to task for his allegedly misguided
than our usual examples." See David Lewis, "Fiction in the historical conjectures; see The New York Times Book Review
Service of Truth," Philosophical Papers, vol. 1 (New York: (1 October 2000): 14-15. Thus, the second part of the no-ar-
Oxford University Press, 1983), p. 278 (emphasis added). gument argument is insupportable, unless Larmarque and
Olsen maintain that such criticism falls outside our practices.
96. One source of this complaint is that philosophical ar-
guments lack sufficient detail to make us feel comfortable But that would be tantamount to begging the question.
that we have enough information about the issue at hand.By the way, it should also be acknowledged that the first
Marilyn Friedman notes, "Hypothetical dilemmas have part no of the no-argument argument is not, strictly speaking,
true. There are some artworks that do contain explicit argu-
social or historical context outside their own specifications;
lacking any background information, we require longer sto- mentation and/or analysis. Examples include Dostoyevsky's
ries in order to feel comfortable that we know most of the Brothers Karamazov, Mann's Magic Mountain, Shaw's
pertinent information that can be expected in cases of this Man and Superman, and Frayn's A Landing on the Sun. And
sort. What matters is having enough detail for the case at there are many others. However, since proponents of the
hand...." Thus, the reason that literary thought experimentsno-argument argument are correct in observing that such
possess as much concrete detail as they do is to reassurecases are far from the norm, it still seems advisable to pro-
readers that enough of the situation has been articulated for
duce demonstrations of less overt argumentation, such as the
the moral imagination to proceed. Of course, where signifi- ones in this essay, in order to put the no-argument argument
decisively to rest.
cant variables have been obscured in the type of situation de-
picted fictionally, that may well count as a moral failing in 100. Throughout this essay, I have assumed that there is
the work. See Marilyn Friedman, "Care and Context in such a thing as moral knowledge and that it can be taught. If
Moral Reasoning," Women and Moral Theory, ed. Evasomeone denies there is moral knowledge, that would have
Feder Kittay and Diana T. Myers (Totowa, NJ: Rowman andto be addressed in terms of considerations that go far afield
Littlefield, 1987), p. 201 (emphasis added). of the scope of this essay. However, even if there is no moral
97. Ryle notes, "The fact that the examples are fakedknowledge, the strategy employed in this essay would still
tends to render them all the better as illustrations of the gen-be available to show that literature and art can be viewed as
eral principle in question. For irrelevant and conflicting thought experiments that yield knowledge, since the kind of
characteristics can be omitted or left in the shade." See concept discrimination I maintain that literature encourages
Gilbert Ryle, "Imaginary Objects," Aristotelian Society,
with respect to the virtues still could be shown to be relevant
supplementary vol. 12 (1933): 42. This is a feature of all
to eliciting conceptual analyses of not necessarily moral
concepts, such as those of desire and emotion.
thought experiments, and it pertains to literary ones as well.
See also Gendler, Thought Experiment, pp. 15-17. Another objection to my approach might be that it
98. Of course, this concreteness is leavened by unifying assumes that knowledge of virtue is to be derived by con-
strategies, like virtue wheels, thus enabling literature to pro-
ceptual analysis. But suppose that knowledge of virtue ulti-
vide readers with complexes of events ordinarily beyond our mately belongs to the province of science, perhaps evolu-
tionary psychology. Can we then claim to derive knowledge
ability to track and to hold together in our minds cognitively
and perceptually. Thus, it is the power of literature to marry
of virtue from things like literature?
unity with rich detail that allows it to serve so well as an in-Whether science will ever inherit the study of virtue is too
large an issue to address here. However, supposing that
vitation to moral deliberation, especially in terms of learning
how to make sense of the behavior of others and ourselves moral psychology becomes more scientific, it still may re-
through the exploration of our concepts of virtue and vice. quire the folk psychology of virtue in order to isolate the

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phenomenon whose determining mechanisms scientific re- Moreover, that literary fictions may mislead, as well as
search goes on to explain. In this respect, literature, by illu- lead, the reader with respect to the contemplation of virtue
minating folk psychology, still may have a contribution to should not compromise my argument about the epistemic
and educative potentials of literary thought experiments,
make to our knowledge of virtue and, in that sense, be said to
be knowledge tracking. Literature may not be able to tell us since the same observations can be made about philosophi-
the whole story about virtue, but I have not claimed that it cal thought experiments. That is, we do not disavow philo-
does, nor do I think one needs to be so extravagant in order sophical thought experimentation as a source of knowledge
to meet the skeptic. and learning because it sometimes results in error. Rather,
Furthermore, I should note that throughout this essay I we check it to reassure ourselves that it has canvassed all the
have chosen examples where I think the case can be made relevant variables. Ditto, artistic thought experiments. And
that the conceptual discrimination afforded by artworks is this is why explorations of literary thought experiments that
approximately correct-that is, the examples are ones where employ virtue wheels set us thinking about the virtues in ev-
the results of fictional thought experiments either hit their eryday life.
mark or, at least, nearly do. This should not be taken as an On the ways that moral error can arise, see Joel Kupper-
indication, however, that I believe that literary and artistic man, Character (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991),
ventures of this sort are always successful. Surely fictions, p. 72.
as they shape and guide our perception of the ongoing story, 101. This essay was presented as the Presidential Address
can lead us into error by either (i) framing an immoral course to the American Society of Aesthetics in Reno, Nevada, in
October, 2000. The author would especially like to thank
of action or a character trait as if it were not morally prob-
lematic, or (ii) drawing our attention away from morally sig-Peter Kivy, Sally Banes, Philip Harth, David Lowenstein,
nificant aspects of a situation and displacing it elsewhere- Elliott Sober, Lester Hunt, Francis Schrag, Harold Scheub,
perhaps onto something morally insignificant (or deflecting Lorrie Moore, Stephen Davies, Dominic Lopes, David
attention from an immoral aspect of a course of action or a Bordwell, Ulrich Langer, and the audience at the Institute
trait by overemphasis on some moral aspect that is far less for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wiscon-
important than the effectively camouflaged immoral aspect). sin-Madison for their help and encouragement in the prepa-
When these sorts of things happen, they are bad-making fea- ration of this article. Of course, only I am responsible for the
tures of the work from the perspective of moral evaluation. errors herein.

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The Wheel of Virtue: Art, Literature, and Moral Knowledge

Author(s): Noël Carroll

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The Wheel of Virtue: Art, Literature,

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For example, in Dickens's Great Expecta-

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NOEL CARROLL A film might remind us of the evidence we know of already,

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