The Ethical Detective: Moral Philosophy and Detective Fiction

By Rachel Frances Christ Haliburton

Book Overview

Detective fiction and philosophy3/4moral philosophy in particular3/4may seem like an odd combination. Working within the framework offered by neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, this book makes the case that moral philosophers ought to take murder mysteries seriously, seeing them as a source of ethical insight, and as a tool that can be used to spark the ethical imagination. Detective fiction is a literary genre that asks readers to consider questions of good and evil, justice and injustice, virtue and vice, and is, consequently, a profoundly and inescapably ethical genre. Moreover, in the figure of the detective, readers are presented with an accessible role model who demonstrates the virtues of honesty, courage, and a commitment to justice that are required by those who want to live well as a virtue ethicist would understand it. This book also offers a critique of contemporary moral philosophy, and considers what features a neo-Aristotelian conception of autonomy might display.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1498536824
• ISBN13: 9781498536820
• Release Date: September 2020
• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"