Researcher ORCID Identifier
0009-0004-3549-4087
Graduation Year
2025
Date of Submission
4-2025
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Philosophy
Reader 1
Dustin Locke
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2025 Samuel G. Levy
Abstract
This paper argues that fiction can reliably impart moral knowledge, despite its fictional status. After establishing that moral knowledge fits the framework of justified true belief, I defend the view that literature can communicate moral truths and knowledge that is the same kind as knowledge gained from direct testimony. In response to Andreas Stokke’s claim that fiction serves as a defeater for knowledge, I argue that moral truths, unlike factual claims, survive the default defeater. Through a specific example from To Kill a Mockingbird, I show that literature can offer justified moral testimony, affirming its role as a legitimate source of moral knowledge.
Recommended Citation
Levy, Samuel G., "Moral Knowledge from Fiction: A Challenge to Stokke’s Defeater Thesis" (2025). CMC Senior Theses. 3917.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/3917
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
