Moral Character and the Significance of Action: Judging Dmitri Karamazov

Pacovská, Kamila

doi:10.1111/phin.12235

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(7 reference statements)

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“…The answer is usually taken from the main object of these emotions, which derives from the two main aspects of (blameworthy) wrongdoing: the inner aspect of the wrongdoer's voluntary agency and the outer aspect of the deed realised in the world. There may be wrongdoings that lack one of these aspects, such as the unintended wrong or the unsuccessful attempt, but in a full-blown blameworthy wrongdoing, both aspects combine in a complex way that reflects in the complexity of the problem of retrospective moral emotions (Pacovská 2019). Authors who think that it is more important to focus on the deed favour guilt feelings and remorse as the morally appropriate retrospective emotions.…”

Section: Moral Emotions and Change Of Heartmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…InPacovská (2019), I examine the tension in remorse between what one is revealed to be and what one has become in acting as one did.10 The cases of akrasia, or weak will, are an important exception here, because the person who succumbs to temptation inherently knows that she is succumbing and condemns it. But even these cases have been questioned in the past, most famously by Plato's Socrates.…”

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Remorse and Self-love: Kostelnička’s Change of Heart

Pacovská

2021

J Ethics

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Does remorse imply self-hatred? In this paper, I argue that self-hatred is a false response to one's wrongdoing because it is corrupted by the vice of pride, which affects the perception of its object. To identify the detrimental operation of pride, I propose to study the process of change of heart and its impediments. I use the example of Kostelnička, from Janáček's opera Jenůfa, to show that the impediment to remorse is active already as a source of wrongdoing and self-deception. I identify three different aspects of Kostelnička's pride: social ambition, defensive anger and moral ambition. I show that it is pride as moral ambition that prevents the wrongdoer's acknowledgment of her blameworthiness by causing her obsession with her blameless self-image and corrupting her self-love. In the last part of the paper, I reject Kostelnička's initial self-hatred before her change of heart, because it is not based on an accurate judgement of her agency. Kostelnička's true remorse is thereupon connected with her inner transformation towards humility and with a reorientation of her attention towards the victim of her wrongdoing, as testified in her plea for forgiveness. The implied moral improvement and reconstitution of her relationship to herself and others opens the way for her coming to terms with her guilt.Keywords: guilt feelings and remorse, change of heart, self-deceptive wrongdoing, corrupted self-love, pride and humility, moral ambition 1 Self-hatred thus involves both self-loathing (based on "global" negative evaluation of the person as such) and the corresponding behaviour that damages one's well-being, such as self-torment, destructive behaviour and even suicide. I am following here Aristotle's remarks on hatred (Aristotle 1382a15) as developed by Ben-Ze'ev (2000: 382).

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Section: Moral Emotions and Change Of Heartmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Remorse and Self-love: Kostelnička’s Change of Heart

Pacovská

2021

J Ethics

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“…For an interesting discussion of a similar issue in relation to Dimitri Karamazov, seePacovská (2019).…”

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Wolf Hall and moral personhood

Hämäläinen

2019

Ethics &Amp; Bioethics

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Can a good man do evil things? This paper offers a moral philosophical reading of Hilary Mantel's novels Wolf Hall and Bring up the bodies, focusing on Mantel's fictional portrayal of Thomas Cromwell as a good person, in spite of his growing involvement in the dirty work of Henry VIII. The narrative resists interpretations of Cromwell as someone corrupted by power. It also thwarts attempts to read his deeds as results of a deficient capacity for sympathetic imagination, which has been a focalized moral flaw in contemporary moral philosophical discussions of literature. By thus resisting moralized readings of his character, the novels invite intensified attention to the complex dynamics of character and circumstance.

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Virtue

Strandberg

2021

Forgiveness and Moral Understanding

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Moral Character and the Significance of Action: Judging Dmitri Karamazov

Cited by 4 publications

References 9 publications

Remorse and Self-love: Kostelnička’s Change of Heart

Remorse and Self-love: Kostelnička’s Change of Heart

Wolf Hall and moral personhood

Virtue

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