Communities of Dialogue Russian and Ukrainian Émigrés in Modernist Prague

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208570

Literature, reflection and the theory of knowledge

Allan Janik

pp. 153-158

Abstract

Both humanists and scientists may think it absurd to suggest that literature can play a role in epistemology. But this is because literature has been consigned to a nebulous, non-cognitive realm of values, leading in the "fact"-worshipping twentieth century to the trivialization of studies which should illuminate the character of human life. The manifold nature of experience can only be captured significantly in narrative form, and by reflection, a mode of knowledge that involves epistemological pluralism. Literature has this ability and, through its capacity for concrete portrayal, it can also move us. Janik gives four examples: Aeschylus' Orestia, Shakespeare's King Lear, Diderot's Ramean's Nephew and the poetry of G. Trakl. His statement is: without literary reflection, the essential problematic character of human experience can only be superficially explored.

Publication details

Published in:

Göranzon Bo, Florin Magnus (1991) Dialogue and technology: art and knowledge. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 153-158

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4471-1731-5_18

Full citation:

Janik Allan (1991) „Literature, reflection and the theory of knowledge“, In: B. Göranzon & M. Florin (eds.), Dialogue and technology, Dordrecht, Springer, 153–158.