Linda Zagzebski's theory of moral exemplarity emphasizes the importance of admiration in developing ethical behavior. This essay argues that admiration involves wonder and distance and is best evoked by mixed or flawed characters; it demonstrates this through discussion of the characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Using Paul Ricoeur's taxonomy of prefiguration, configuration, and refiguration in narrative work, it discerns a self-reflexivity in the protagonists of these fantasy novels, which is echoed by that of the readers, who are brought to realize their own emplotment in larger narratives. Features in Tolkien and Rowling that aid this exploratory reading include the length and depth of the novels, the decentering of the reader's own reality, and their open endings, which offer an invitational role to further interpretation. Virtue is viewed more teleologically than in Zagzebski, for moral realism is woven into the metaphysics of these novels, which allows mimesis of flawed characters to be ethically productive.

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“我们经历了一个多么美好的故事”：《指环王》和《哈利·波特》系列中的情节和典型人物

琳达·扎格泽布斯基（Linda Zagzebski）的道德典范理论强调钦佩在发展道德行为中的重要性。本文认为，钦佩涉及惊奇和距离，最能由混合或有缺陷的角色引起。它通过对 JRR 托尔金的《指环王》和 JK 罗琳的《哈利·波特》系列中的角色的讨论来证明了这一点。利用保罗·利科对叙事作品中的预喻、配置和重构的分类法，它在这些奇幻小说的主角中发现了一种自我反省，这得到了读者的呼应，他们在更大的叙事中意识到了自己的情节。托尔金和罗琳的小说有助于这种探索性阅读的特点包括小说的长度和深度、读者自身现实的偏心以及开放式结局，这些都为进一步的解释提供了邀请作用。与扎格泽布斯基相比，人们更多地从目的论角度看待美德，因为这些小说的形而上学中融入了道德现实主义，这使得对有缺陷的人物的模仿在道德上变得富有成效。