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Quote by Philip Kitcher

“In elaborating how "philosophy by showing" works, and in defending the idea that literature and music can contribute to philosophical "showing", I am also doing something more standardly philosophical. But I view most of the book as an interweaving of philosophy and literary criticism. If that entails a broadening of a standard idea of philosophy, it's a broadening I'd like to see happen.”

Quote by Philip Kitcher

Author

Philip Kitcher, born on February 20, 1947, is a philosopher, writer, and academic. His research interests are primarily in the fields of philosophy of science, epistemology, and moral philosophy. more

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“I'm a pluralist about perspectives on literature. There seem to me to be all sorts of illuminating ways of responding to major literary works, some of them paying considerable attention to context, others applying various theoretical ideas, yet others focusing on details of language, or linking the work to the author's life, or connecting it with other works.”

Way Ideas Seems Literature Language Attention Perspective Majors Details Various Connecting Theoretical Responding Illuminating Literary Works

Author:Philip Kitcher

“Mann is widely recognized as a master of irony and ambiguity, yet it's remarkable how quickly people foreclose options he carefully leaves open. Lots of readers - including eminent critics - jump to conclusions: that Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy is a central background text, that Aschenbach is an inferior writer, that he's never been attracted by pubescent male beauty before, that he dies of cholera.”

People Dies Masters Reader Birth Tragedy Critics Males Including Backgrounds Conclusion Irony Remarkable Inferiors Ambiguity Cholera Male Beauty

Author:Philip Kitcher

“Look at Mann's reading habits, his explicit comments on Nietzsche, and his copy of Birth of Tragedy, and it starts to seem doubtful that this work of Nietzsche's played much role in the gestation of the novella.”

Looks Seems Reading Roles Birth Habit Tragedy Copies Comment Doubtful Explicit Reading Habits Gestation

Author:Philip Kitcher

“Consider the different narrative styles within the story, and the glee with which the "moralistic narrator" celebrates Aschenbach's fall - maybe, then, this is a hostile verdict and the international fame is warranted after all (given that Mann modeled his protagonist so closely on himself, it would be quite odd if he had intended Aschenbach's literary inferiority to be a fixed part of the interpretation).”

Ifs Different Stories Would Be Fall Given Style Fame International Celebrate Narrative Odd Fixed Interpretation Hostile Inferiority Protagonists Glee Verdict Narrators

Author:Philip Kitcher

“Think about Mann's own daily routine (ascribed to Aschenbach), read the extant diaries and the letters in which he discusses the novella's themes, and it won't be so obvious that the attraction to Tadzio is completely unprecedented; it also won't be obvious that what Aschenbach wants is full sexual contact.”

Thinking Want Letters Obvious Attraction Contact Theme Routine Diaries Unprecedented Daily Routines

Author:Philip Kitcher

“Read Mann's notes, which contain precise accounts of cholera and its symptoms, and observe how careful he is throughout his fiction in getting medical details straight - then you might begin to wonder whether cholera is the only candidate for the cause of Aschenbach's death. What results from this, I think, is a deeper appreciation of Mann's brilliance in keeping so many possibilities in play. The ambiguity is even more artful than people have realized.”

People Thinking Play Might Causes Results Fiction Wonder Possibility Accounts Notes Details Careful Appreciation Deeper Medical Candidates Precise Symptoms Ambiguity Brilliance Cholera

Author:Philip Kitcher

“So my methodological approach is to draw on many different features in highlighting different facets of the novella (and the opera and the film).”

Different Film Approach Draws Features Opera Facets Highlighting

Author:Philip Kitcher

“I use biography, I use literary connections (as with Platen - this seems to me extremely helpful for appreciating the nuances of Mann's and Aschenbach's sexuality), I use philosophical sources (but not in the way many Mann critics do, where the philosophical theses and concepts seem to be counters to be pushed around rather than ideas to be probed), and I use juxtapositions with other literary works (including Mann's other fiction) and with works of music.”

Way Ideas Use Seems Fiction Source Concepts Appreciate Connections Philosophical Critics Including Sexuality Helpful Biographies Nuance Thesis Juxtaposition Literary Works

Author:Philip Kitcher

“Part of my methodological approach is made explicit when I discuss ways in which literature can have philosophical significance. Literature doesn't typically argue - and when it does, it's deadly dull. But literature can supply the frame within which we come to observe and reason, or it can change our frame in highly significant ways. That's one of the achievements I'd claim for Mann, and for Death in Venice.”

Way Doe Made Reason Literature Achievement Approach Claims Philosophical Arguing Significant Dull Significance Venice Explicit Death In Venice

Author:Philip Kitcher

“There are many critics whose work I greatly admire. Even though I diverge from T.J. Reed in several important ways, I've learned greatly from his writings on Mann.”

Way Writing Important Critics Admire I've Learned Reeds

Author:Philip Kitcher