zuckert: i think it is relevant in a complicate way. think, as bernadette was just explaining, one of the ways literature, allison started with one of the ways literature teaches is extending your sense of empathy. introducing the reader and his or her burdens to the feelings and point of view of a different kind of person. that is what a talented author can do. but, in a sense you get empathy with a lot of different people that that is going to raise the question of which is best, which is just, etc.. the raising of problems that bernadette had just mentioned. i guess i think that in 20th century literature, what has happened, it is not just literature, it is everywhere. educated people don't believe in the self-evident truths of the declaration of independence as being actually true. so, that creates a new kind of problem. what is the basis of our thought that human beings have a dignity? why? that you could be made into fertilizer, that is not very dignified. somehow we think that is wrong. or, is nature a source of rights? or is it