PHILOSOPHY OF LITERATURE

The course is a reading of works by contemporary authors who deal with the question of whether, and how, fiction, literature, philosophy are related to one another. The course will focus on theories of expression and imagination in philosophical analysis, ethics, and literature. It investigates the ethical significance of literary work through careful readings of philosophical texts and other materials: poems, fictional narratives, plays and movies.

The course concernes itself with the comparison between fundamental problems of philosophy of literature.
Learning outcomes:
1. critically engage with philosophical arguments, criticizing and organizing arguments
2. apply philosophical concepts to artistic issues
3. distinguish dimensions relevant to their own specialties

There are no prerequisites

«Literary and Moral Imagination»

The aim of the course is to offer an introduction to major problems at the intersection of philosophy and literature. Among the primary topics to be discussed will be the debate on ethics and literature, drawing on a comparison between ordinary language and poetic language. The course is centered on three themes: truth, memory, and attention. We will examine philosophical analyses of literature, focusing on contemporary debates and consider their historical roots, with the aim of examining the implications for literary studies and criticism. We will consider selections of texts by Cavell, Gargani, Ginzburg, Putnam, Rorty, Voltolini and in their dialogue with linguistic analysis, epistemology, and science in the analysis of literary texts. Part of the course will be devoted to the interrelation between ethics and imagination, investigating various perspectives of relationship between reality and fiction.

- W. Stevens, «L'angelo necessario. Saggi sulla realtà e l'immaginazione», Abscondita

- S. Cavell, «Il ripudio del sapere. Lo scetticismo nel teatro di Shakespeare», Einaudi

- R. Rorty, «Heidegger, Kundera and Dickens», trad. it., in «Scritti filosofici», volume II, Laterza

- A. G. Gargani, «La frase infinita. Saggio su Thomas Bernhard», Laterza

- C. Ginzburg, «Straniamento. Preistoria di un procedimento letterario», in «Occhiacci di legno. Nove saggi sulla distanza», Feltrinelli

- A. Voltolini, «Finzioni», Laterza

Method of evaluation: oral and written examination based on problems considered during the course.

Written/oral examination forme and criteria:

- one seven-page essay: 40%
- class participation (including presentation): 20 %
- finall examination: 40%

Method of instruction: the main teaching methods of the course are the lecture, the lecture-discussion, and the seminar. Every student will be encouraged to participate in the discussion of the materials (small group seminars and presentations).

Italian

Additional readings may be found online. I will make them electronically available (Moodle material: https://moodle.unive.it/course/view.php?id=1307 )

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development