-
84Précis of the philosophy of literatureBritish Journal of Aesthetics 50 (1): 77-80. 2010.(No abstract is available for this citation)
-
107Wittgenstein, Literature, and the Idea of a PracticeBritish Journal of Aesthetics 50 (4): 375-388. 2010.The familiar idea that literature is embedded in social practices that help explain both its existence and its value took a distinctive form in analytic philosophy, drawing on speech act theory and a conception of ‘rules’. A major influence was John Rawls's seminal paper ‘Two Concepts of Rules’ (1955) in which he introduced the ‘practice conception of rules’ according to which certain practices are defined by rules that in turn make possible certain kinds of action. The idea underlies the notion…Read more
-
61On the Distance between Literary Narratives and Real-Life NarrativesRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 60 117-132. 2007.It is a truth universally acknowledged that great works of literature have an impact on people's lives. Well known literary characters—Oedipus, Hamlet, Faustus, Don Quixote—acquire iconic or mythic status and their stories, in more or less detail, are revered and recalled often in contexts far beyond the strictly literary. At the level of national literatures, familiar characters and plots are assimilated into a wider cultural consciousness and help define national stereotypes and norms of behav…Read more
-
"T. S. Eliot and the Philosophy of Criticism": Richard Shusterman (review)British Journal of Aesthetics 29 (4): 384. 1989.
-
11Two Introductions: Invitation to Philosophy.What Philosophy Is: An Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy (review)Philosophical Quarterly 36 (145): 540. 1986.
-
132Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition: An Anthology (edited book)Wiley-Blackwell. 2003.This anthology provides comprehensive coverage of the major contributions of analytic philosophy to aesthetics and the philosophy of art, from the earliest beginnings in the 1950’s to the present time. Traces the contributions of the analytic tradition to aesthetics and the philosophy of art, from the 1950’s to the present time. Designed as a comprehensive guide to the field, it presents the most often-cited papers that students and researchers encounter. Addresses a wide range of topics, includ…Read more
-
274The death of the author: An analytical autopsyBritish Journal of Aesthetics 30 (4): 319-331. 1990.
-
103Reasoning to what is true in fictionArgumentation 4 (3): 333-346. 1990.The paper discusses the principle by which we reason to what is ‘true in fiction’. The focus is David Lewis's article ‘Truth in Fiction’ (1978) which proposes an analysis in terms of counterfactuals and possible worlds. It is argued thatLewis's account is inadequate in detail and also in principle in that it conflicts radically with basic and familiar tenets of literary criticism. Literary critical reasoning about fiction concerns not the discovery of facts in possible worlds but the recovery of…Read more
-
18Spreading the Word: Groundings in the Philosophy of Language (review)Philosophy and Literature 9 (2): 212-225. 1985.
-
15Presupposition and the Delimitation of Semantics.Presuppositions and Non-Truth-Conditional Semantics (review)Philosophical Quarterly 26 (105): 379. 1976.
-
120Work and objectProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 102 (2). 2002.The paper considers what kinds of things are musical, literary, pictorial and sculptural works, how they relate to physical objects or abstract types, and what their identity and survival conditions are. Works are shown to be cultural objects with essential intentional and relational properties. These essential properties are connected to conditions of production and conditions of reception, of both a generic and work-specific kind. It is argued that work-identity is value-laden, whereby essenti…Read more
-
41The Puzzle of the Flash Stockman: A Reply to David LewisAnalysis 47 (2). 1987.This is a short note on a problem arising from lewis's account of 'truth in fiction'. In the case of the unreliable narrator, A writer, On lewis's view, Must pretend to pretend. An explanation is offered for this in terms of mimicry or impersonation, And some consequences drawn about fictional ontology
-
279On not expecting too much from narrativeMind and Language 19 (4). 2004.The paper offers a mildly deflationary account of narrative, drawing attention to the minimal, thus easily satisfied, conditions of narrativity and showing that many of the more striking claims about narrative are either poorly supported or refer to distinct classes of narrative—usually literary or fictional—which provide a misleading paradigm for narration in general. An enquiry into structural, referential, pragmatic, and valuebased features of narrative helps circumscribe the limits of narrat…Read more
-
35The High Price of Evading Boredom: A Reply to Erik Bjerck HagenNordic Journal of Aesthetics 11 (18). 1999.
-
21Concise Encyclopedia of Philosophy of LanguagePergamon Press. 1997.Philosophers have had an interest in language from the earliest times but the twentieth century, with its so-called 'linguistic turn' in philosophy, has seen a huge expansion of work focused specifically on language and its foundations. No branch of philosophy has been unaffected by this shift of emphasis. It is timely at the end of the century to review and assess the vast range of issues that have been developed and debated in this central area. The distinguished international contributors pre…Read more
-
17On Keeping Psychology Out of Literary CriticismIn Elisabeth Schellekens Dammann & Peter Goldie (eds.), The Aesthetic Mind: Philosophy and Psychology, Oxford University Press. pp. 299-312. 2011.
-
150Tragedy and moral valueAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 73 (2). 1995.This Article does not have an abstract
-
FictionIn Jerrold Levinson (ed.), The Oxford handbook of aesthetics, Oxford University Press. 2003.
-
61Reflections on the Ethics and Aesthetics of Restoration and ConservationBritish Journal of Aesthetics 56 (3): 281-299. 2016.This paper looks at some of the principles behind restoration and conservation applied to ancient artefacts and architecture. A number of case studies are discussed, from medieval stained glass to buildings that have been damaged by fire. The paper ends with some remarks about the conservation of ruins. Underlying the discussion are questions about the kinds of obligations—both ethical and aesthetic—that might constrain the practices of restoration: what ought and ought not to be done in particu…Read more
-
15Review of Malcolm Budd, Values of Art (review)British Journal of Aesthetics 37 (1): 84-86. 1997.
-
32Object, Work, and InterpretationPhilosophy in the Contemporary World 12 (1): 1-7. 2005.The paper offers an overview of, and critical comments on, Michael Krausz’s Limits of Rightness. It focuses on three key aspects of the book’s intellectual framework: the ideals of interpretation, the objects of interpretation, and the ontological commitments of interpretation. The paper discusses how exactly these aspects are related Krausz’s views on constructive realism, in particular its relation to objects of interpretation, become crucial. His comments on Paul Thom’s theory of interpretati…Read more