Logical Fictions in Medieval Literature and Philosophy (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature)
Cambridge University Press, 10/23/2014
EAN 9781107068742, ISBN10: 1107068746
Hardcover, 322 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, new ways of storytelling and inventing fictions appeared in the French-speaking areas of Europe. This new art still influences our global culture of fiction. Virginie Greene explores the relationship between fiction and the development of neo-Aristotelian logic during this period through a close examination of seminal literary and philosophical texts by major medieval authors, such as Anselm of Canterbury, Abélard, and Chrétien de Troyes. This study of Old French logical fictions encourages a broader theoretical reflection about fiction as a universal human trait and a defining element of the history of Western philosophy and literature. Additional close readings of classical Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, and modern analytic philosophy including the work of Bertrand Russell and Rudolf Carnap, demonstrate peculiar traits of Western rationalism and expose its ambivalent relationship to fiction.
Introduction
Part I. Logical Fables
1. Abélard's donkey
the nonexistent particular
2. The literate animal
naming and reference
3. The fox and the unicorn
naming and existence
Part II. Figures of Contradiction
4. The opponent
5. The fool who says no to God
6. The man who says no to reason
Part III. Fathers, Sons, and Friends
7. Aristotle or the founding son
8. Abélard or the fatherless son
9. The dialectics of friendship
Conclusion
Bibliography.