Editorial

This special issue of Res Cogitans presents a selection of the papers presented at the conference Frontiers in the philosophy of literature, which was held at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense from 25-26th September 2015. The conference was funded by the Danish Research Council for Independence Research – Humanities and hosted by the Department for the Study of Culture. It focused three interrelated topics that are both more or less perennial questions in the philosophy of literature and at the same time have attracted renewed attention, and received important modifications, in light of recent developments in literature, philosophy and society at large

The Takeover by a Literary Culture: Richard Rorty's Philosophy of Literature

The aim of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive account of the role literature, the ‘literary’, and the notion of a ‘literary culture’ plays in the work of the American pragmatist philosopher Richard Rorty (1931-2007). While these notions are systematically significant in Rorty’s work, no thoroughgoing study of the literary aspect of his oeuvre exists. I undertake this study to understand why Rorty hoped ‘culture as a whole’ would be ‘poeticized’ (CIS p. 53) rather than simply pragmatised, and why he, at the end of his career, stated that his key contribution had been his narrative about the ‘takeover’ by a ‘literary culture’ (PTG p. 4). I ask what work literature and a particular literary vocabulary does for Rorty as he articulates his own brand of pragmatism. Examining Rorty’s narrative as narrative, and foregrounding his constant alignment with the literary attitude, allows me to understand the Rortian project as a break with traditional forms, and, importantly, with the governing forms we impose on history and moral progress. Tracing the roots of the idea of a ‘literary culture’ in Rorty’s work permits me to see CIS as a literary and poeticist response to a question Rorty’s adoption of a literary vocabulary helps him articulate: how we might cultivate a humanist pragmatism – a mode of thought and work that emulates the attitude and writerly practices of the literary artist or critic. And, lastly, looking closely at why Rorty, despite advancing a thoroughly contextualist and functional conception of literature, recommends that we centre liberal-intellectual practice around plays, poems, and especially novels, lets me delineate the morally significant function Rorty takes literature in the narrow sense to be more efficient at performing – the performance of which depends on the cultivation of literary skill. I close by offering some thoughts on Rorty’s readings of Lolita and 1984, on how my findings enables us to become better readers of Rorty, especially of Rorty as a reader of literature, and on what I take Rorty’s attention to literature to imply about the role and importance of the literary (critical) institution in contemporary society.This work was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research (Lånekassen), and Aker Scholarship (Anne Grete Eidsvig og Kjell Inge Røkkes Allmennyttige Stiftelse for Utdanning)

Філософія літератури: варіант онтологічного питання (Philosophy of Literature: An Option of the Ontological Question)

У статті розглядається характер взаємозв’язку філософії літератури як того, що зумовлює онтологічне запитування. Використовуючи онтологію Мартіна Гайдеггера, передбачаються дві фундаментальні онтологічні виміри філософії літератури: спосіб феноменологічно-антропологічного осягнення буття літератури та спосіб осягенння буття самою літературою завдяки філософському оприявленню її сущого. Підсумовується, що кожен варіант онтологічного питання переосмислює класичне розуміння як філософії, так і літератури, виводячи їх у нове пізнавальне поле. (The article deals with the nature of the relationship of philosophy and literature that actualizes an ontological question. It specifies that philosophy and literature have long historical dialogue, but mainly a philosophy positioned itself qualitatively different from the literature, considering the last one as less important phenomenon. The key difference between them is that philosophy operates of thinking as a way of comprehension the meaning, and literature operates of imagination as a way of production the images. Nevertheless, philosophy and literature converge in a common intention to grasp the world, but when literature creates it from the beginning, at the same time philosophy tries to understand how something already created. Philosophy of literature is an attempt to conceive the existence of literature, but it can be happen in a different ways. Using of Martin Heidegger’s idea of ontology, it provides two fundamental ontological dimensions of philosophy and literature: phenomenological and anthropological understanding the existence of literature and the way of selfreflection the meaning of being by literature itself. In the first case, it is important to maintain a balance between the refined being from experience and direct human presence. As Martin Heidegger insists that every question is inevitably phenomenological and anthropological question, it is impossible to artificially distinguish between philosophy and literature. The second question is purely ontological, providing the inner voice being literature. Ontological question about the being of literature existence is a question about the being in the world, and hence of time and space. It is concluded that each version of the ontological question reinterprets the classic understanding of both philosophy and literature, taking them to a new cognitive field. The interdisciplinary philosophy and literature outlines a new way of philosophizing, where the power of metaphor is no less important than clarity of concept. At the same time, philosophy is a way of clarifying the nature of literature, appearance of literature in its own ontological limits.

A manifestation of all life : intersections of virtue ethics, philosophy of emotion, and philosophy of literature.

This dissertation offers a brief survey of the rise of reason and the tum to the self at the expense of emotion in Western thought. This marginalization of emotion has had deleterious effects on two areas: the cultivation of virtue and the intersubjectivity necessary to sustain human flourishing. Using current research in neuropsychology the dissertation argues that reason and emotion form a dynamic partnership in the process of attaining reliable knowledge. Moreover, the dissertation argues that the emotional experience necessary for the cultivation of virtue, as well as the ability to attend to the emotional lives of others in the service of inter subjectivity, can be augmented by simulating emotional experiences through reading literature. The dissertation is divided into six chapters. Chapter One traces the history of the rise of reason and the tum to the self in the West, arguing that the preeminence of reason has pushed emotion to the irrational margins. Chapter two explores theories of emotion, contending that emotion is best understood as a process initiated by affective appraisal. Chapter Two also argues for an understanding of emotion as a necessary part of the process of knowing. Chapter Three uses an Aristotelian analysis of virtue to argue for the need for emotion in developing virtue and sustaining community. Chapter Four sets down a theory of emotional attending that argues against viewing others as objects or as mirror images of the self. Chapter Five offers an argument about the simulation of emotion and the use of the imagination in reading literature, and why expanding emotional resources is an important goal. Chapter Six provides a practical example of how reading can enrich the fund of emotional experiences upon which one draws to attend to the emotional lives of others through analysis of Richard Russo\u27s, Empire Falls