ENGLISH

Literature and Rationality: Ideas of Agency in Theory and Fiction

By Paisley Livingston

Book information

Year
1992
ISBN
0521405408, 9780521405409, 0521064805, 9780521064804, 9780511518652
LCC
PN49 .L545 1991
Open Library ID
OL1864284M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
5 MB (5603003 bytes)
Edition
First Edition
Pages
268\266
Topic
Literature Literary
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

This book explores concepts of rationality drawn from philosophy and the social sciences, in relation to traditions of literary enquiry. The author surveys basic assumptions and questions in philosophical accounts of action, in decision theory, and in the theory of rational choice. He gives examples ranging from Icelandic sagas to Poe and Beckett, and examines some situations and actions drawn from American and European fiction in order to analyze issues raised by contemporary models of agency. Challenging poststructuralism's irrationalist images of science, this innovative study crosses the boundary between literary and philosophical studies in a bold interdisciplinary spirit.

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