Abstract
This dissertation explores the ethical response of undergraduate students in the Department of Primary Education of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, to prose and poetic works of Modern Greek Literature. As a conceptual framework for examining ethical response, the study draws on Aristotelian theory of “moral perception” ─ a notion that integrates judgment, emotion, and imagination, and is developed in the work of Martha Nussbaum as a bridge connecting ethical theory to literature. The main objectives of the study are to deepen the understanding of the phenomenon of ethical response, to identify teaching strategies that foster ethical engagement with literary texts, and to investigate the potential ethical effects of literature instruction on students’ attitudes, desires, and behavioral tendencies. Addressing a gap in the existing literature and educational research, the dissertation seeks to offer theoretical and methodological reinforcement for literature teaching t ...
This dissertation explores the ethical response of undergraduate students in the Department of Primary Education of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, to prose and poetic works of Modern Greek Literature. As a conceptual framework for examining ethical response, the study draws on Aristotelian theory of “moral perception” ─ a notion that integrates judgment, emotion, and imagination, and is developed in the work of Martha Nussbaum as a bridge connecting ethical theory to literature. The main objectives of the study are to deepen the understanding of the phenomenon of ethical response, to identify teaching strategies that foster ethical engagement with literary texts, and to investigate the potential ethical effects of literature instruction on students’ attitudes, desires, and behavioral tendencies. Addressing a gap in the existing literature and educational research, the dissertation seeks to offer theoretical and methodological reinforcement for literature teaching through approaches that regard the literary work not only as an aesthetic object but also as a bearer of ethical experience. Drawing on contemporary theories of the ethical dimension of literary writing and reading, the research tests tools of ethical analysis and criticism in practice and examines pedagogical factors that support a meaningful ethical “encounter” between students and literary texts. The methodological approach adopted a case study design within an ethnographic framework. The experimental character of the study required the random assignment of participants into two groups—an Experimental Group and a Control Group—both of which were taught the same literary texts through different instructional methods. The Control Group primarily employed a hermeneutic approach, whereas instruction in the Experimental Group was based on methods informed by reader-response and rhetorical approaches to literature. The study investigated the impact of teaching method (independent variable) on the kind of ethical response students exhibited toward the literary texts, on the degree of interest demonstrated during instruction, and on the desires they developed regarding their character and behavior (dependent variables). Research data were collected through various techniques (observation, audio recording and transcription of lessons, questionnaires, written assignments, and focused interviews) and were subjected to qualitative content analysis. The analysis of the research data revealed significant differences in the ethical response of the two groups and identified the pedagogical factors that influenced students’ ethical engagement with the literary texts, as well as the pleasure they derived from the lessons. An in-depth examination of their ethical responses illuminated how the three core components of Aristotelian moral perception—judgment, emotion, and imagination—interrelate and interact. The research also brought to light key aspects of the ethical impact of literature instruction on students, including introspection and self-criticism, the reinterpretation of personal experiences, moral reflection and remorse, the cultivation of empathy and the re-evaluation of attitudes toward people within their experiential horizon. The study’s findings open promising avenues for enriching classroom practice with strategies attuned to the contemporary ethical orientation of literature teaching—not by promoting moralism or didacticism, but by nurturing the broad horizon of moral perception.
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