Philosophy & Literature (370-0-20)

Instructors

Sam Filby

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-430: Mon, Wed, Fri 10:00AM - 12:00PM

Overview of class

This class proposes to explore the relationship between philosophy and literature by examining the way both modes of writing express anxieties about our own subjectivity and the subjectivity of others. We will begin by reflecting on what the paradigmatic mode(s) of philosophical thinking is, as well as how our views about this matter will shape how we think about the relationship between philosophy and literature. To get these questions better into view, we will read J.M. Coetzee's The Lives of Animals, a text which raises questions about what makes a literary text "philosophical" and whether philosophy ought centrally to be thought of as a mode of rational argumentation. From there, we will turn to Annie Ernaux's memoir A Girl's Story, which explores various ways one can feel alienated or divided from one's own subjecthood. After this, we will address themes of how we are alienated or divided from the subjecthood of other people. To think about this theme, we'll consider Descartes, Shakespeare's Othello, and Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. We'll conclude by asking if philosophy necessarily "deflects" away from our existential concerns and towards abstract puzzles merely in the vicinity of our live worries.

Class Attributes

Face to face: In person, in campus space