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A Man for All Seasons

In: English and Literature

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ETHICS

IN

A MAN

FOR

ALL SEASONS

Joe Casey
Milltown Institute

PREAMBLE

I want to begin with some comments on what led me to the topic of ethics and A Man for All Seasons. I had been looking at some fairly heated exchanges in the late 1990s in the journal Philosophy and Literature between
Richard Posner and Martha Nussbaum on the possibility of ethical criticism (Posner 1997, 1998; Nussbaum 1998). Briefly, Posner takes up what he believes to be an aestheticist stance that ethics has nothing to do with literature, so that ethical criticism is ruled out, whereas Nussbaum argues that literature can be ethical and ethical categories legitimately be applied to it. In the background is Nussbaum’s view that certain works of literature may be necessary for ethics (Nussbaum 1990). Neither position seemed entirely satisfactory. It appeared evident to me, as against Posner, that literature could provide ethical insights, but Nussbaum’s suggestion that ethics is dependent on literature seemed too strong. But whatever the merits of the latter thesis, the weaker thesis that literature can be ethically revealing is worth defending. At some level a great work of literature represents a form of human existence, to which we may respond as human beings. That there is a moral dimension to human existence I assume. Hence, it seems clear that literature may represent that dimension.
Robert Bolt’s 1960 play can serve as an instance of how literature can stimulate ethical reflection. And, at the same time, it is not the kind of text where ethical themes are only marginally present; to the contrary, they are quite central and accessible. In this paper, my goal is to illustrate the potential of literature to stimulate ethical reflection by analyzing
Bolt’s play. I will focus for the most part on three ethical themes: self and society, moral heroism,

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