Reading as a Philosophical Practice (Anthem Studies in Bibliotherapy and Well-Being)

Description

Reading as a Philosophical Practice asks why reading―everyday reading for pleasure―matters so profoundly to so many people. Its answer is that reading is an implicitly philosophical activity. To passionate readers, it is a way of working through, and taking a stand on, certain fundamental questions about who and what we are, how we should live, and how we relate to other things. The book examines the lessons that the activity of reading seems to teach about selfhood, morality and ontology, and it tries to clarify the sometimes paradoxical claims that serious readers have made about it. To do so, it proposes an original theoretical framework based on Virginia Woolf’s notion of the common reader and Alasdair MacIntyre’s conception of practice. It also asks whether reading can continue to play this role as paper is replaced by electronic screens. Cover Front Matter Half-title Title page Copyright information Dedication Table of Contents Acknowledgements Chapters 1-7 1. Philosophizing about Reading: The Very Idea Reading Matters Reading as a Philosophical Activity Haven’t I Read This Story Before? Fanfare for the Common Reader Two Objections 2. The Reading Self Lost in a Book Describing the Act of Reading Further Steps 3. The Reading Life About a Boy What to Read Rereading How to Feel about Oneself as a Reader Stories and Quests 4. Ethics from Reading? Improving Reading The Supply-Side Approach The Conversational Approach A Hermeneutical Approach Where This Leaves Us 5. Ethics of Reading? Responsible Readers Two Kinds of Responsibilities A Deontological Approach An Alterior Approach A Eudaimonistic Approach Practices, Traditions and History 6. Reading Things Here’s the Thing Relating to Books Collecting the Virtual Collecting Writ Large Collecting the Collectors 7. The Future of the Common Reader A Digital Future? Changing Practices Changing the Questions Changing Philosophy End Matter Notes Chapter 1 Philosophizing about Reading: The Very Idea Chapter 2 The Reading Self Chapter 3 The Reading Life Chapter 4 Ethics from Reading? Chapter 5 Ethics of Reading? Chapter 6 Reading Things Chapter 7 The Future of the Common Reader Bibliography Index