Reading the other
Subtitle: novels and the problem of other minds
By: Carol de Dobay Rifelj.
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 1992
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 247
Subjects: Fiction -- History and criticism.; Intersubjectivity in literature.; Other minds (Theory of knowledge) in literature.; Difference (Psychology) in literature.; Literature -- Philosophy.
Description: In Reading the Other, Carol de Dobay Rifelj looks at the philosophical Problem of Other Minds, which is concerned with whether and to what extent we can know the thoughts or sensations of others. She begins by discussing Cartesian skepticism - the idea that one person cannot know the mind of another - and examines how it has been addressed in the twentieth century, from the later Wittgenstein to Stanley Cavell. Finally, she looks at how the Problem of Other Minds is represented in fiction - from the detective stories of Dashiell Hammett and Arthur Conan Doyle to the work of Marcel Proust, Villiers de L'Isle Adam, Prosper Merimee, and Anthony Powell. Reading the Other is a fascinating book that provides insights into an intriguing and enduring philosophical question.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-240) and index.