Philosophy as/and/of Literature. On the Cognitive Value of Literature

Conference at the University of Padova, organized by Francesco Campana and Gabriele Tomasi (University of Padova). The event is supported by the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology of the University of Padova and the PhD Course in Philosophy.

In his Critique of Judgment, Kant affirms that an »aesthetic judgment is unique in kind and provides absolutely no cognition (not even a confused one) of the object«; it brings to our attention »only the purposive form in the [way] the presentational powers are determined in their engagement with the object«.

The cognitive value of art is a long lasting topic in philosophical debates and becomes even more complex if we take literature into account, i.e. an art that makes use of a verbal and even conceptual dimensions. Can we learn anything from literature? What kind of possible knowledge can we gain from it? Can we come to know something true through fiction? Can we acquire a general wisdom or a particular expertise from it?

This kind of problem calls into question the more general relationship between philosophy and literature. From Ancient Greek Thought to Classic German Philosophy, from Marxist analysis of literature to Structuralist investigations on its nature, from the Phenomenological and Hermeneutical conceptions of the 20th Century about the truth in the arts to the debate between cognitivists and anti-cognitivists in the Analytical Tradition, the connection (and sometimes struggle) between philosophy and literature has produced many insights, positions, and approaches.

With the title Philosophy as/and/of Literature – which clearly recalls Arthur C. Danto’s renowned article – this workshop aims to discuss the relationship between the two disciplines, with a particular focus on the cognitive value of literature.