Critical Theory and a New Ethics of Narrative

Abstract

Current crisis of the humanities is closely involved with hyper-institutionalization and professionalization of academic critical discourse and the humanities education. We have narrowed down humanities education to the point where it no longer provides the enhanced capacity for civic engagement. As an alternative to the current crisis of the humanities, this article proposes a new ethics of narrative. According to Martha Nussbaum, narrative imagination is a capacity to enter into and understand the experiences and lives of the others. New ethics of narrative emphasizes the vital role of narrative imagination in cultivating the powers of judgment and sensibility of a mature and responsible person, by exploring how the ability to be a sympathetic reader of another person’s story can be a basic qualification of democratic and cultivated citizen. This ability contributes to moral development of a citizen by fostering the capacity to understand people who may act from very different motives, identities and experiences.