The presence of persons
Subtitle: essays on literature, science, and philosophy in the nineteenth century
By: William Myers.
Series: The nineteenth century; Nineteenth century (Aldershot, England)
Publisher: Ashgate
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Aldershot, England; Brookfield, Vt
Language: eng
Number of pages: 246
Subjects: English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism.; American literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism.; Literature and science -- English-speaking countries.; English-speaking countries -- Intellectual life -- 19th century.
Description: The histories of Darwinism, relativism, empiricism, phenomenology, feminism, cognitive philosophy and deconstructionism are all subjected to radical reassessment. The thought of Hamilton, Newman, Mill and Spencer is compared with that of Frege, Husserl, Wittgenstein, Merleau-Ponty, Monod, Dennett, Dawkins, Eagleton and Miller. The author argues for a traditional view, deriving largely from Newman, of the unity and autonomy of individual human beings.

He suggests that science and literature depend on persons being actively and responsibly present to each other, that freedom is always interpersonal, and that in great literature we can discover the workings of this deep mutuality and its enemies.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 224-236) and index.