Concept Work: A Philosophic Approach to Literature

European Journal of English Studies, 2009

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Mieke Bal WORKING WITH CONCEPTS Interdisciplinarity in the humanities should seek its heuristic and methodological basis in concepts rather than in methods. Concepts are the tools of intersubjectivity: They facilitate discussion on the basis of a common language. But concepts are not fixed. They travel-between disciplines, between individual scholars, between historical periods and between geographically dispersed academic communities. Between disciplines, their meaning, reach and operational value differ. These processes of differing need to be assessed before, during and after each 'trip'. All of these forms of travel render concepts flexible. It is this changeability that becomes part of their usefulness for a new methodology that is neither stultifying and rigid nor arbitrary or 'sloppy'. This paper aims to explore the value of such unsettled concepts for interdisciplinary work in the Humanities.

The Cambridge Handbook of Philosophy of Language

This chapter attempts to provide readers with a basic understanding of philosophy of literature in the analytic tradition. The chapter begins with an overview of the history of the analytic method in aesthetics, followed by philosophers’ recent formulations of the analytic enterprise. Philosophers’ different interests in literature will be classified, and the difference between philosophy of literature and philosophy and literature will be explained. The main chapter is divided into five concise sections, which elucidate a topic by representing and assessing popular philosophical theories about the matter. ‘Literature’ presents the main conceptions of literature in analytic aesthetics. The definition of literature will be briefly explored. Also, the distinction between the ‘text’ and ‘work’ and the ontology of literary works will be examined. ‘Fiction’ surveys analytic theories of fictionality, focusing on the recent debate on the relation between fiction and imagination. The epistemology of fiction—the ontology of ‘fictional worlds’ and the question of ‘fictional truths’—will be introduced. The section also describes key topics explored by philosophers of fiction, such as the nature of fiction-induced emotions and readers’ ‘imaginative resistance’ to morally deviant fictional worlds. ‘Narrative’ examines philosophical definitions of narrative and scepticism toward them. The section will focus on the alleged distinctive epistemic value of narrative explanations, and it will review the difference between real-life and literary narratives, our ‘fictionalizing tendencies’ in narrative explanations, and philosophical doubts about the epistemic and ethical value of narrative identity. ‘Author, Meaning, and Intention’ explores the mentioned concepts in the philosophy of literature. It presents an overview of three main theories in the philosophy of interpretation: actual intentionalism, hypothetical intentionalism, and value maximization theories. Textual and thematic meaning in literature and the appreciation of literary works of art will be briefly discussed. ‘Cognition’ overviews theories of the cognitive value of literature, that is, its ability to furnish readers with knowledge and insight. The section introduces the three standard epistemic notions employed in the debate: propositional knowledge, experiential knowledge, and ‘understanding’.

1 The exception to this are contributions by Danto, Lear, Nussbaum and Cavell. 2 Possible exceptions to this are the following three problems which, although not neglected, do invite a treatment in their own right and should have perhaps got a bit more space, although, as I said, various authors discuss them at some length in their essays. The three problems I have in mind include the defi nition of literature, the problem of fi ctional characters and the ontological aspect(s) of literature. The problem of the defi nition of literature is tackled in the fi rst and the last chapter, though the emphasis here is more on the distinctiveness of literary language. The problem of fi ctional characters got subsumed under the problem of (emotional) reaction to literature, of which Hagberg's article is by far the most elaborated discussion of this problem.

Comparative Literature Studies

The Import of Literary Criticism, 2019

Abstract With the present global inclination to science, technology, and agriculture, criticism seems to have been tilted in that direction. The flame of reading literature seems to be going out gradually but steadily and with it, the reading and mastery of its prescriptive theories and their application to literary texts. If we consider that literature is concerned with life’s affairs which are more pressing than the reading black and white symbols of a text and their abstract interpretation, if we consider that literature is a vortex where distant and usually seemingly unrelated areas of human knowledge meet and interact, that war, the environment, the economy and even politics are involved in literary studies, then we would try to value the text more, and its criticism which is the decoding of the message of the text, which sometimes has a problem solving perspective, would be given its due import, since literature is in fact, a pattern of infinite potentialities, proffered by an absence presence, which have to be investigated through the right procedures. Because this domain is involved with every sphere of life, the import of getting its message cannot be overrated. However, the shade of meanings got without the use of literary theories would be highly informal, judgmental, and oftentimes superficial. Literary criticism is meant to throw light into the text through theories, and to assess the public comprehension of the text. In this vein, criticism is more important than the text, for it says in several ways what the text says. The main thrust of this paper is its attempt at encouraging literary criticism by showing how beneficial it is to the reader, writer and critic as individuals and to the society as a whole. Keyword: Criticism