The Ethical Implications of Virtue in De la litterature by Madame de Stael

Abstract

At the exit of the revolutionary troubles, Madame de Stael publishes her De la litterature to diagnose the contemporary literature and to open its new possibility. In this work, she suggests a new literature which strongly participates in the establishment of the citizen ethics and thus consequently contributes to human perfectibility. In this perspective, "virtue" is a significant notion in the work, and it is represented as an element to promote ethical progress. In this paper, therefore, we tried to examine the relationship between the ethical implications of virtue and literary perfectibility that is represented in Madame de Stael's De la litterature. First, we study various ethical implications of "virtue" which is a key point in the ideas presented by Madame de Stael as well as the relevant issue of philosophers in the eighteenth century. Additionally, we analyse through Madame de Stael's discussions how "virtue" realized in the literary work functions as the core value of "progress," in other words what are the relations between ethics and literary progress. Through this analysis, we were able to see that she had a very specific idea of the future literature based on virtue: if she stressed the importance of "empathy" and "understanding of others,"moral perfection of an individual and free will, it was to claim literature as a "sentimental education" wherein sentiment and reason simultaneously operate aiming for consolation and happiness of the social community beyond an individual, and wherein the Holy Trinity comprises morality, sensibility, and intelligence. Consequently, we identified that the discussion of "literature," as illustrated by a woman's intellect in a period of anxiety and confusion, continues to be relevant in certain aspects.