Chaucer's Ethical Philosophy
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Author Description
Chaucer's Ethical Philosophy Reads Chaucer In New Ways, Revealing His Deep Engagement With The Most Urgent Questions Of Modern Political And Ethical Philosophy. The Book Offers Original Readings Of Troilus And Criseyde, The Canterbury Tales, And The Book Of The Duchess, Placing Chaucer In Close Dialogue Not Only With Medieval Philosophy And Theology, And His Great European Literary Sources (boccaccio, Dante, Guillaume De Machaut) But Also With Some Major Figures And Concepts Of Modern Philosophical Thought (hegel, Levinas, Wittgenstein, Butler; Recognition, Subjectivity, Gender). It Thereby Illuminates His Use Of Distinctively Medieval Forms And Structures Of Narrative To Explore Ideas And Develop Philosophies That We Have Been Conditioned To Think Of As Exclusively Modern. Chaucer's Fictional Experiments Are Shown To Be As Philosophically Complex And Ethically Powerful As Anything In Current Thought-- Provided By Publisher.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates how Geoffrey Chaucer’s literary works engage with complex ethical and political questions that bridge the gap between medieval theology and modern philosophical inquiry. Laura Ashe, a scholar of medieval literature, utilizes a comparative framework to analyze Chaucer’s major texts alongside both his historical contemporaries and modern thinkers like Hegel and Levinas. The study argues that Chaucer’s narrative structures serve as sophisticated vehicles for exploring subjectivity, recognition, and gender, effectively challenging the notion that these are exclusively modern concerns.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Comparative analysis of Chaucer’s major works including Troilus and Criseyde, The Canterbury Tales, and The Book of the Duchess.
- Interdisciplinary dialogue between medieval literary sources such as Boccaccio, Dante, and Guillaume de Machaut and modern philosophers like Wittgenstein and Butler.
- Examination of medieval narrative forms as tools for ethical and political theorizing.
Scope Limits
- The text does not provide a comprehensive biography of Chaucer or a general history of the Middle Ages.
- It does not attempt to cover the entirety of Chaucer’s minor works or apocryphal texts.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars and critics recognize this work as a significant contribution to the field of medieval studies for its ability to place Chaucer in a contemporary philosophical context. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for an audience familiar with both medieval literature and modern critical theory.
Page Count:
0
Publication Date:
2025-01-01
Publisher:
New York : Oxford University Press,
ISBN-10:
0191997684
ISBN-13:
9780191997686
Philosophy
English literature
Ethics
Literary Criticism
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