Frontiers in the Philosophy of Literature

September 25, 2015 - September 26, 2015
Institute for the Study of Cultures, University of Southern Denmark

Campusvej 55
Odense 5230
Denmark

View the Call For Papers

Sponsor(s):

  • The Danish Research Council

Speakers:

R. Lanier Anderson
Stanford University
Peter Lamarque
University of York, UK
Paisley Livingson
Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Catrin Misselhorn
Universität Stuttgart

Organisers:

Michael Brande
University of Southern Denmark
Søren Harnow Klausen
University of Southern Denmark

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Frontiers in the Philosophy of Literature

The conference Frontiers in the philosophy of literature aims at bringing together philosophers and literary scholars to share and promote state-of-the-art research. It will take place at the University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, from 25-26th September.

The conference will focus on 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.

1) Authorship. The role and status of the author has been a central topic in the philosophy of literature for decades. While the discussion was spurred by provocative writings of Barthes and Foucault in the late 1960ies, it goes back at least to debates surrounding New Criticism and the later controversy over the role of authorial intentions in interpretation prompted by Gadamer’s hermeneutics. However, the problem has gained a new significance due to the emergence of new semi-biographical genres. The relationship between a philosopher’s work and life has been a central issue in recent discussions about scholarship in the history of philosophy. Another relatively new development that has given renewed importance to the question of the role of the author is the trend towards increased co-authorship. While this trend is most vivid in non-fictional literature (e.g. scientific papers), is raises questions that are relevant to literary fiction as well. Joint authorship raises legal and ethical questions (e.g. about responsibility for the views – and possible mistakes or fraud – expressed in a text, or about intellectual property rights). These in turn point back to questions about the relationship between intentions (collective as well as individual, tacit as well as explicit), the writing process, textual and literature features, and reader responses, known from the philosophy of literature and interpretation.

2) Ethics and literature. The conference will debate the strength and shortcomings of the currently fashionable ethical approach to literature. How exactly can literary fiction be ethically significant? Does literary fiction support certain types of ethical theory (like situationism) more than others? Examining the relationship between literature and ethics is also relevant to the understanding and assessment of a wide variety of currents in critical literary scholarship, e.g. feminist, queer or post-colonialist approaches, which, though not overtly ethical, nevertheless exploit the links between normative evaluation and aesthetic criticism.

3) Fiction and truth. Part of the motive behind the recent interest in literary fiction among philosophers is an assumption that it can be an important source of knowledge, which can qualify philosophical discussions. This raises the general question about the relationship between fiction and truth or reality (implicit also in discussions about the role of the author and the moral significance of literature). In what (if any) sense can literary fiction be said make statements or present evidence or arguments? Does it convey knowledge about the possible rather than the actual? When and how far can literature be trusted? What are the conditions and criteria of literary trustworthiness?

Keynote speakers

Peter Lamarque, University of York

R. Lanier Anderson, Stanford University

Paisley Livingston, Lingnan University Hong Kong

Catrin Misselhorn, University of Stuttgart

Open call for papers

16 papers will be selected through an open call and double-blind peer review process. March 2015. Submissions addressing one or more of the three topics mentioned above are particularly welcome, but papers on other central topics in the philosophy of literature can also be accepted. Submissions from scholars with a background in continental philosophical traditions, like phenomenology or hermeneutics, or in literary theory or cultural studies, are no less welcome than submissions from scholars of a more analytic orientation.

THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS MAY 31, 2015

Please send the title and summary of your presentation, in no more than 400 words, to [email protected]

Acceptance letters will be sent out by June 30, 2015

Some contributors will be given the opportunity to submit their presentations for publication in an anthology and/or special journal issue

The conference is funded by the Danish Research Council for Independent Research - Humanities

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