Lehrende/r: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Monika Class; Jun. Prof. Dr. Annika Schlitte
Veranstaltungsart: Seminar
Anzeige im Stundenplan: 05.874.512
Credits: 8,0
Unterrichtssprache: Englisch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: - | 20
Anmeldegruppe: ELC 512
Prioritätsschema: Senatsrichtlinie Zulassung gemäß Richtlinie über den Zugang zu teilnahmebeschränkten Lehrveranstaltungen vom 07. März 2007. Nähere Informationen hierzu entnehmen Sie bitte www.info.jogustine.uni-mainz.de/senatsrichtlinie
Inhalt: A mere glance at Plato indicates that the relation between literature and philosophy has never been an easy one. Plato’s successors have repeatedly observed – either as a matter of praise or criticism – that, on the one hand, Plato’s Politeia banned poets from his ideal state, while, on the other hand, the dialogues in his work are so beautifully written and performative that they pass as literature. Plato objected to literature on the grounds that the latter, just like any other form of art, merely imitates our sensuous, perceivable world (mimesis), and thus fails to account for the essential nature of things, which by Plato’s principle always lie outside of the realm of sensuous perception. Plato’s deprecation of the senses is closely linked with the preconditions of his philosophy; indeed, our senses play only a minor role for Plato. Conversely, we see a significant change in the relation of literature and philosophy in the eighteenth century when sensibility and sensory perception were being re-evaluated in positive ways. Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten established aesthetics as a new philosophical discipline. This intervention, in turn, made the advocates of rationality and even Immanuel Kant contemplate the role of our faculties of intuition and imagination. The development led to a resurgence of interest in arts and literature during the Romantic period (and beyond), shared by philosophers and so-called “men of letters” in Germany and Britain alike. The work of Friedrich Schiller and that of William Wordsworth illustrate this, to mention but a couple names. The seminar will revolve around the question of how to conceive of the interplay between literature and philosophy during the period. We will analyze a number of selected aesthetic issues in order to provide some exemplary answers. Questions of influence are of no concern for us in this course. Rather, the seminar is designed to help students develop, identify, assess and defend systematic questions about literature’s contribution to philosophy and, vice versa, what might happen if we approached philosophy as literature.
Zusätzliche Informationen: This course will be co-taught in English and in German.
