Artless Integrity: Moral Imagination, Agency, and Stories

Susan Babbitt dissects a common moral perspective for judging importance which she calls moral imagination. In order to explain ourselves, and to recognize in others, what we often already perceive intuitively to be right or good, we instinctively create a story as a framework. She argues that we intentionally create stories which appear artless or chaotic, something capable of imperfection. This allows the story-maker to eventually deviate if he or she chooses, without a loss of hope, even if that direction and goal may not yet be able to be fully articulated or defended.