WRITING IN PRACTICE VOL 9

ABSTRACT

This article adopts a teacher-practitioner stance to reflect on the value of embedding basic ethical frameworks in the pedagogy of Creative Writing. It takes the use by Atkinson (2008) of narrative techniques to help teach ethics to medical students as a starting point. It then provides an account of the author’s inclusion of basic ethical frameworks in teaching delivery of Level 4 prose lectures at a UK university (2018-2021) as a case study. The author drew on Narrative Ethics, Consequentialism, Duty Ethics and Virtue Ethics in lectures to help student writers develop their understanding of character-, plot- and conflict-development in their fiction. The article provides summary thoughts on main benefits for Creative Writing students’ learning. It includes consideration of the author’s application of ethics in their own creative practice. The article builds on a paper given at the 2019 NAWE conference in York. 

KEYWORDS

ethics, narrative, consequentialism, duty, virtue, Kant, pedagogy, crime fiction

 HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE

Dicks, Duncan. (2023) Finding the Value in Teaching Ethics to Writers. Writing in Practice. 9. 20-30 DOI: 10.62959-WIP-09-2023-03