Philosophy versus Literature? Against the Discontinuity Thesis

Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 71 (4):349-360 (2013)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

According to what I call the ‘Discontinuity Thesis’, literature can never count as genuine philosophizing: there is an impermeable barrier separating it from philosophy. While philosophy presents logically valid arguments in favor of or against precisely formulated statements, literature gives neither precisely formulated theses nor arguments in favor of or against them. Hence, philosophers don’t lose out on anything if they don’t read literature. There are two obvious ways of questioning the Discontinuity Thesis. First, arguing that literature can indeed do what philosophy is generally taken to do. Second, arguing that philosophy is not, in fact, the presentation of logically valid arguments in favor or against precisely formulated statements – what it does is closer to what literature is generally taken to do. I use a combination of these two strategies and argue that philosophy is not as intellectually straightforward as it is advertized to be and literature is not as intellectually impoverished as it is generally taken to be.

Similar books and articles

Philosophy, Literature, and Emotional Engagement: A Response to Nanay.Robbie Kubala - 2015 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 73 (2):196-200.
Badiou and Deleuze read literature.Jean-Jacques Lecercle - 2010 - Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
The wheel of virtue: Art, literature, and moral knowledge.Noel Carroll - 2002 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 60 (1):3–26.
State of the field: Transient underdetermination and values in science.Justin Biddle - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 44 (1):124-133.
Positivism and the internal point of view.Richard Holton - 1998 - Law and Philosophy 17 (s 5-6):597-625.
Professor Fisher on suppositions.George Bowles - 1993 - Argumentation 7 (3):237-246.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-09-09

Downloads
456 (#45,008)

6 months
74 (#71,717)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Bence Nanay
University of Antwerp

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references