Read more
Mark Twain and Philosophy reveals deeper issues raised by Twain's work and speaks to his continued relevance as a social commentator interrogating issues fundamental to our lives. From slavery, freedom, and human rights, to science, parapsychology, and religion, this book exposes how Twain's body of work touches every corner of human experience.
List of contents
Introduction, Alan H. Goldman
Part I: Morality in Huckleberry Finn
Chapter 1: The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn, Jonathan Bennett
Chapter 2: Huckleberry Finn and Moral Motivation, Alan H. Goldman
Chapter 3: Sympathy, Principles, and Conscience: Getting to the Heart of Huck Finn's Moral Praiseworthiness, Robert Fudge
Chapter 4: Huckleberry Finn's Struggle between Sympathy and Moral Principle Reconsidered, Michael Lyons
Chapter 5: Twain's Last Laugh, Kristina Gehrman
Part II: Twain on Religion
Chapter 6: The Gospel According to Mark (Twain), Craig Vasey
Chapter 7: Mark Twain and the Problem of Evil: The Mysterious Stranger, Letters from the Earth, and The Diaries of Adam and Eve, James M. McLachlan
Part III: Moral Issues
Chapter 8: The Noble Art of Lying, James Edwin Mahon
Chapter 9: Twain's Critique of Human Exceptionalism: "The Descent of Man" and the Anti-Vivisection Movement, Emily E. VanDette
Part IV: Literary Devices
Chapter 10: Mark Twain's Serious Humor and that Peculiar Institution: Christianity, Chris A. Kramer
Chapter 11: Socratic Irony in Twain's Skeptical Religious Jeremiads, Dale Jacquette
Part V: Comparison to Other Philosophers
Chapter 12: The American Diogenes: Mark Twain's Sacred Profanity, Brian Earl Johnson
Chapter 13: An Epicurean Consideration of Superstitions in Mark Twain and in the Good Life, Jennifer Baker
Chapter 14: Moral Value and Moral Psychology in Twain's "Carnival of Crime", Frank Boardman
Chapter 15: Making the Heart Grow Fonder: Twain, Psychical Distance, and Aesthetic Experience, Jeffrey Dueck
Notes
Index
About the Editor and Contributors
About the author
Alan Goldman is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Philosophy at the College of William & Mary. He has written extensively on philosophy and popular culture, literature, morality, love, and beauty. His most recent books include Philosophy and the Novel (2013) and Reasons from Within: Desires and Values (2009).
Summary
Mark Twain and Philosophy reveals deeper issues raised by Twain's work and speaks to his continued relevance as a social commentator interrogating issues fundamental to our lives. From slavery, freedom, and human rights, to science, parapsychology, and religion, this book exposes how Twain's body of work touches every corner of human experience.
