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Preliminary communication

https://doi.org/10.21464/sp32207

On Literary Cognitivism from the Perspective of Difference between Literature and Philosophy

Iris Vidmar orcid id orcid.org/0000-0003-3780-6457 ; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sveučilišna avenija 4, HR–51000 Rijeka


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Abstract

Contemporary discussions over the cognitive value of literature focus on analysing the way in which literature and philosophy come close in addressing a specific class of concerns: those distinctively related to the human position and human experience in the world. In light of some stylistic methodological differences between the two practices – clear and precise language of philosophy and philosophy’s focus on abstraction and objectivity vs. semantically dense language of literature accessory to conveying that which is emotional and subjective – it is often argued that the truth pertains to the domain of philosophy and deception to the domain of literature. I take that to be wrong and misrepresentative with respect to two things: philosophy’s capacity to foster understanding and literature’s overall cognitive value. To support my claim, I first show that philosophy’s traditional methods of addressing human concerns are insufficient for the task and I then move on to explaining how literature can be cognitively valuable and better equipped to shed light on some of these concerns. I end by refuting arguments which deny literature’s capacity to engage with philosophical problems.

Keywords

human experience; knowledge; literary cognitivism; anti-cognitivism; literature; philosophy; understanding

Hrčak ID:

200282

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/200282

Publication date:

30.4.2018.

Article data in other languages: croatian french german

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