Interpretation of the ethical turn of contemporary Western literary theory from the perspective of “New Aristotelism”

Abstract

In the 1980s, the new humanism ethical criticism gradually returned to the mainstream of Western literary theory and criticism academia, realizing the ethical turn of literary theory criticism. The New Aristotelian camp is represented by Wayne Booth and Martha Nussbaum, who inherit Aristotelian virtue ethics theory. From the perspective of ethics and morality, literary research and criticism are conducted, and the structure of new humanism ethical criticism is established. The research, combined with the background of the times, makes a historical interpretation of the ethical turn of contemporary Western literary theory and analyzes the reasons and basic characteristics of the ethical turn of literary criticism. Based on Wayne Booth’s and Martha Nussbaum’s theories, this paper explores the ethical turn and development of literary criticism from the New Aristotelian perspective. The New Aristotelian doctrine emphasizes the moral significance of literature, explores the ethical issues and promotes the more in-depth and systematic analysis and discussion of Western literary criticism on the ethical level. The research makes an in-depth analysis of the promoting role of the new Aristotelianism behind the ethical turn of contemporary Western literary theory and provides a new perspective for the interpretation of the ethical turn of contemporary Western literary theory.

Keywords

• New Aristotelism
• Literary theory
• Ethics
• Wayne Booth
• Martha Nussbaum