Can There be a Literary Philosophy of Time?
Can There be a Literary Philosophy of Time?
This chapter takes the discussion of the metaphysics of time in a different direction. It asks whether the treatment of time in fictional narratives can teach anything about the nature of time, or the concepts and experience of it. In particular, it asks whether it can teach lessons that people cannot get from the usual philosophical studies of time. To pursue this question, the discussion assesses two main lines of thought that suggest the answer ‘Yes’. First, it focuses on such claims as that one can learn about time, and even about the self. Second, it considers the idea of appealing to a narrative with an unusual temporal structure, and to the ability to engage imaginatively with the narrative's time, to produce an argument that more usual structures are not necessary to time.
Keywords: metaphysics, time, fictional narratives, philosophical studies, temporal structure
British Academy Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.