On Moral Fiction
E739224
On Moral Fiction is a critical work by novelist and essayist John Gardner that argues for the ethical responsibility of literature and the importance of moral purpose in art.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| On Moral Fiction canonical | 2 |
| The Moral Fiction | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8503955 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On Moral Fiction Context triple: [John Gardner, notableWork, On Moral Fiction]
-
A.
The Nature and Aim of Fiction
The Nature and Aim of Fiction is an influential essay by Flannery O’Connor that explores what fiction is, how it works, and what purposes it serves in the writer’s and reader’s experience.
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B.
A Preface to Morals
A Preface to Morals is a 1929 philosophical work by American writer Walter Lippmann that examines the challenges of finding ethical guidance in a secular, modern society.
-
C.
On the Basis of Morality
On the Basis of Morality is a philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer in which he argues that genuine ethics is grounded in compassion rather than rational duty or self-interest.
-
D.
Review of the Principal Questions in Morals
Review of the Principal Questions in Morals is an 18th-century philosophical treatise by Richard Price that defends rationalist ethics and the objectivity of moral truths.
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E.
Moral Man and Immoral Society
Moral Man and Immoral Society is a seminal 1932 work of Christian social ethics in which Reinhold Niebuhr argues that individuals can act morally but groups and societies are driven by power and self-interest, requiring realistic political constraints.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On Moral Fiction Target entity description: On Moral Fiction is a critical work by novelist and essayist John Gardner that argues for the ethical responsibility of literature and the importance of moral purpose in art.
-
A.
The Nature and Aim of Fiction
The Nature and Aim of Fiction is an influential essay by Flannery O’Connor that explores what fiction is, how it works, and what purposes it serves in the writer’s and reader’s experience.
-
B.
A Preface to Morals
A Preface to Morals is a 1929 philosophical work by American writer Walter Lippmann that examines the challenges of finding ethical guidance in a secular, modern society.
-
C.
On the Basis of Morality
On the Basis of Morality is a philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer in which he argues that genuine ethics is grounded in compassion rather than rational duty or self-interest.
-
D.
Review of the Principal Questions in Morals
Review of the Principal Questions in Morals is an 18th-century philosophical treatise by Richard Price that defends rationalist ethics and the objectivity of moral truths.
-
E.
Moral Man and Immoral Society
Moral Man and Immoral Society is a seminal 1932 work of Christian social ethics in which Reinhold Niebuhr argues that individuals can act morally but groups and societies are driven by power and self-interest, requiring realistic political constraints.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (42)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
literary criticism ⓘ |
| argues |
against value-neutral views of art
ⓘ
that great art is necessarily moral ⓘ that literature has an ethical responsibility ⓘ |
| author | John Gardner ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| criticizes |
amoral aestheticism
ⓘ
certain trends in contemporary American fiction ⓘ literary relativism ⓘ |
| discusses |
criteria for judging good fiction
ⓘ
moral imagination ⓘ role of truth in art ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
moral purpose in art
ⓘ
relationship between art and morality ⓘ |
| genre |
aesthetic theory
ⓘ
literary criticism ⓘ philosophy of literature ⓘ |
| hasAuthorCitizenship |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| hasAuthorOccupation |
essayist
ⓘ
novelist ⓘ |
| hasForm | collection of essays ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | normative view of literature ⓘ |
| hasTheme |
connection between artistic excellence and moral vision
ⓘ
evaluation of fiction on ethical grounds ⓘ responsibility of the novelist to society ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Aristotelian ethics
ⓘ
classical theories of art ⓘ |
| intendedAudience |
critics
ⓘ
students of literature ⓘ writers ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
aesthetics
ⓘ
ethics in literature ⓘ fiction writing ⓘ moral responsibility of the artist ⓘ |
| notableFor |
controversial critique of contemporary authors
ⓘ
defense of moral standards in fiction ⓘ |
| positionOnArt |
art divorced from morality is aesthetically inferior
ⓘ
art should affirm human values ⓘ art should contribute to moral understanding ⓘ |
| workExampleOf | American literary criticism of the 20th century ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: On Moral Fiction Description of subject: On Moral Fiction is a critical work by novelist and essayist John Gardner that argues for the ethical responsibility of literature and the importance of moral purpose in art.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: On Moral Fiction