PH 991: Literature and Knowledge
Friday 9-11 am, H2.03
Term 2 Spring 2008
Eileen John
Office: S 2.59
Phone: (024765) 72527
e-mail: eileen.john@warwick.ac.uk
Office hours: Tues 3:30-4:30 pm, and by
appointment
By studying the role of literature in human knowledge, this module aims both to
deepen our understanding of literary experience and to raise important questions for
philosophical conceptions of knowledge. The latter have commonly drawn on models
taken from mathematics and empirical science; if we do gain knowledge from
literature, it is not obvious that such models can account for how we do it. This
module aims to give a critical survey of philosophers’ negative and positive claims
concerning literature as a source of knowledge. We will consider, on the one hand,
whether thinking of literature in epistemic terms distorts or betrays literature’s role as
an imaginative and aesthetic practice that need not prioritise knowledge-seeking. On
the other hand, if we are sympathetic to giving literature an epistemic role, what
features of our practices with literature could provide the justificatory force that seems
required for knowledge? The module will address different types of knowledge that
have been considered by philosophers: experiential knowledge, specifically emotional
and psychological understanding, philosophical and conceptual knowledge, and moral
knowledge. Readings will be drawn primarily from 20th century and contemporary
thinkers.
Requirements
 Preparation for, attendance at, and participation in seminar meetings: I will
introduce material, but will expect critical assessment of it to emerge in
discussion. Students will make presentations on the topic of their research, and
I will also hope for students to introduce pertinent examples from literature to
accompany theoretical claims.
 One 5,000-word research essay: I will suggest possible topics, but you are
encouraged to develop a topic that speaks to your interests. Topics should be
developed and approved by 22 February.
Learning outcomes
The module aims to provide students with
 understanding of central challenges to and positive claims for literature as a
source of knowledge. This will include grasp of basic conceptions of
propositional and non-propositional knowledge, and understanding of how
features of literary experience (e.g., emotional engagement, narrative detail)
have been appealed to in arguments for and against its epistemic role.
 exercise in critical assessment of positions in this area
 an opportunity to develop their own substantial ideas on some aspect of this
topic, through independent research and writing
 experience with collaborative philosophical conversation, which calls for
effective articulation of ideas, and balanced, critical, and constructive
engagement with interlocutors
Schedule of topics and readings
Week 1—11 January
Introduction: historical roots, overview of problems and goals
(Plato, Republic X and Aristotle, Poetics, are important sources here, if you
haven’t already read them, please do.)
Week 2—18 January
Reading:
I. A. Richards, ‘Poetry and Beliefs’, in Problems in Aesthetics, ed. Morris
Weitz (Macmillan, 1970)
J. Stolnitz, ‘On the Cognitive Triviality of Art’, British Journal of Aesthetics
32 (1992) (available online through Oxford Journals Online)
E. John, ‘Art and Knowledge’, in Routledge Companion to Aesthetics (2001)
Week 3—25 January
Reading:
Martha Nussbaum, Love’s Knowledge (Oxford UP, 1990), Chs. 1, 10, and 11
Andrew Gibson, Postmodernity, Ethics and the Novel (Routledge, 1999),
Introduction and Ch. 2
Week 4—1 February
Reading:
C. Wilson, ‘Literature and Knowledge’, Philosophy 58 (1983), reprinted in
Philosophy of Literature, eds. E. John and D. Lopes
E. John, ‘Fiction and Conceptual Knowledge: Philosophical Thought in
Literary Context’, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56 (1998) (available
online through JSTOR)
Week 5—8 February
Reading:
P. Lamarque and S. H. Olsen, excerpts from Truth, Fiction, and Literature
(Oxford UP, 1994)
C. Hamilton, ‘Art and moral education’, in Art and Morality, eds. J. L.
Bermudez and S. Gardner (Routledge, 2003)
R. Rorty, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (Cambridge UP, 1989), Chs. 4
and 8
Week 6—15 February
Reading:
Robert Pippin, Henry James and Modern Moral Life (Cambridge UP, 2000),
Chs. 1, 5, and 6
Week 7—22 February
Reading:
John Koethe, ‘Thought and Poetry’, Midwest Studies in Philosophy XXV,
2001; and ‘Poetry and the Experience of Experience’, in Poetry at One
Remove (University of Michigan Press, 2000)
Week 8—29 February
Reading:
R. K. Elliott, ‘Imagination in the Experience of Art’, in Aesthetics,
Imagination and the Unity of Experience (Ashgate, 2006)
Susan Stewart, excerpts from Ch. 3 of Poetry and the Fate of the Senses
(University of Chicago Press, 2002)
Week 9—7 March: Student presentations on research projects
Week 10—14 March: Student presentations on research projects
Assorted further readings:
Note also that some assigned readings are excerpts, and that the whole work would be
worth a look.
Budd, Malcolm. 1995. Values of Art. Allen Lane/Penguin. (section III on poetry)
Carroll, Noel. 1998. ‘Art, Narrative, and Moral Understanding’. In Aesthetics and Ethics. Ed.
J. Levinson. Cambridge UP.
Carroll, Noel. 2000. ‘Art and Ethical Criticism: an overview of recent directions in research’.
Ethics 110.
Cavell, Stanley. 1969. Must We Mean What We Say?. Scribner’s. (esp. essay on King Lear)
Diamond, Cora. 1991. ‘Having a Rough Story about What Moral Philosophy Is’. In The
Realistic Spirit. MIT Press.
Green, M., Strange, J., and Brock, T., eds. 2002. Narrative Impact: Social and Cognitive
Foundations. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Eldridge, Richard. 1988. On Moral Personhood: Philosophy, Literature, Criticism, and SelfUnderstanding. University of Chicago Press.
Gaut, Berys. 2003. ‘Art and Knowledge’. Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics.
Graham, Gordon. 1996, ‘Aesthetic Cognitivism and the Literary Arts’. Journal of Aesthetic
Education 30.
Hagberg, Garry. 1994. Meaning and Interpretation: Wittgenstein, Henry James, and Literary
Knowledge. Cornell UP.
Jacobson, Daniel. 1996. ‘Sir Philip Sidney’s Dilemma: On the Ethical Function of Narrative
Art’. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 54.
John, Eileen. 1995. ‘Subtlety and Moral Vision in Fiction’. Philosophy and Literature 19.
Kieran, Matthew and Lopes, Dominic., eds. 2003. Imagination, Philosophy, and the Arts.
Essays by Bonzon, John, and Shelley.
Levinson, Jerrold. 1996. ‘Messages in Art’. In The Pleasures of Aesthetics. Cornell UP.
Murdoch, Iris. 1970. The Sovereignty of Good. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Novitz, David. 1987. Knowledge, Fiction, and Imagination. Temple UP.
A. D. Nuttall. 1974. A Common Sky: Philosophy and the Literary Imagination. Chatto &
Windus.
Palmer, Frank. 1992. Literature and Moral Understanding. Oxford UP.
Phillips, D.Z. 1982. Through a Darkening Glass: Philosophy, Literature, and Cultural
Change. Oxford UP.
Putnam, Hilary. 1978. ‘Literature, Science, and Reflection’. In Meaning and the Moral
Sciences. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Robinson, Jenefer. 1995. ‘L’Education Sentimentale’. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 73.
212-26. (See also her book, Deeper than Reason.)
Ryle, Gilbert. 1971. ‘Jane Austen and the Moralists’, in Collected Papers, v. 1. Barnes and
Noble.
Young, James. 2001. Art and Knowledge. Routledge.