English 250

Other Readings and Media

Kant. I. : Critique of Judgment; Adorno, T.: Aesthetic Theory; Nancy , Jean-Luc: The Muses; Hegel, G.W.: Phenomenology of Spirit; Badiou, A: Ethics; Wittgenstein, L.: Philosophical Investigations

Description

This course will explore some of the ways that reading in philosophical texts can have an impact on literary studies and on the arts in general. I don�t want to call this either �theory� or �aesthetics,� because such choices obviously tilt the philosophical frameworks in ways that we might want to challenge. In general I want to extend this spirit of challenge by focusing on how philosophical interests might lead us to rely on models of inquiry that might not be the richest measure of the power of literary works. I am especially concerned with the limitations of what might call the ontology of texts, so I will try to make a case for the importance of models of agency for literary study. We will also be concerned with how we might the study of affect central to our work. As I envision it now, participants will be asked to explore the impact of the philosophical readings by presenting how they might be useful and also misleading in relation to selected literary texts or works of visual art.