Corso di laurea magistrale in Filosofia

Subjects and topics of this course, together with tasks and skills that will be acquired, are necessary to get advanced knowledge of the philosophy of literature in the analytic tradition. The course aims also to teach how to identify and evaluate arguments presented in the debates concerning the cognitive, moral and aesthetic value of literature.

a) Have good knowledge of the philosophy of literature and have the ability to analyze a philosophical text; b) have the ability to employ what has been discussed during the course and understand the philosophical arguments that have been examined; c) have the ability to evaluate the philosophical positions thus presented; d) ability to present philosophical positions by making use of examples and counterexamples; e) reading, commentary on and comprehension of the texts discussed during the course.

Lectures (36 hs. overall) using slides; in-class individual and group discussions of arguments and theories; students' presentations and general discussion.

Oral examination plus possible evaluation of written questions on the featured texts. The evaluation will depend on i) students' preparation on the featured texts and their ability to deal with them critically; ii) their capacity to make an oral presentation of a paper; iii) their capacity to ask pertinent and penetrating questions on the texts. During the examination students will be asked to show: a) good knowledge of the philosophy of literature together with the ability to analyze a philosophical text; b) proper understanding of the philosophical arguments analyzed during the course; c) ability to present philosophical positions by making use of examples and counterexamples; d) ability to comment and understand the selected texts.

What does it mean to see literature as art? Why are some literary works artworks and not others? When does a written text become literature? Why do we react emotionally to poems and novels? The course aims at sketching possible answers to these and similar questions typical of the philosophy of literature.

EXAM READING LIST:

1. Lamarque, P., The Philosophy of Literature, Blackwell Publishing, 2009.
2. The following essays:

• Currie, G., “Work and Text”, Mind, 1991, 100, pp. 325-326, 328-340.
• Deutsch, H., “Making Up Stories”, in Everett A. & Hofweber T. (eds.), Empty Names, Fiction and the Puzzles of Non-existence, CSLI Publications, 2000, pp. 149-181.
• Deutsch, H., “Friend on Making-Up Stories”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. cxiii, Part 3, 2013, pp. 365-370.
• Friend, S., “Fiction as a Genre”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. cxii, Part 2, 2012, pp. 179-209.
• Goodman, N., Elgin, C., “Interpretation and Identity: Can the Work Survive the World?”, Critical Inquiry, 1986, 12, pp. 567-574.
• Lewis, D., “Truth in Fiction”, American Philosophical Quarterly, 1978, 15, pp. 37-45.
• Radford, C., “How can we be moved by the fate of Anna Karenina?”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, supp., 1975, 49 (6), pp. 67-80.
• Searle, J. “The logical status of fictional discourse", in Id., Expression and Meaning, Oxford University Press,1979, pp. 58-75.
• Stolniz, J., “On the Cognitive Triviality of Art”, British Journal of Aesthetics, 1992, 32 (3), pp. 191-200.
• Szabó Gendler, T., Kovakovich, K. 2005, “Genuine Rational Fictional Emotions”, in M. Kieran (ed.), Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp. 241-253.
• Thomasson, A. L., “Speaking of Fictional Characters,” Dialectica,  2003, 57/2, pp. 207-226.

Students interested in attending the course should register online.

*Students from the "Corso di laurea magistrale in Filosofia" interested in including the present course among their free credits are invited to contact the instructor.

To attend on line:

https://unito.webex.com/meet/carola.barbero