(in Polish) Narrative Imagination 3501-NI20-S
The status of narrative imagination seems to be problematic for, at least, three main reasons, which can be somehow brought down to the single denominator, namely the (post-)modern crisis of experience. First of all, it has been argued that the notion of narrative is no longer relevant. In contemporary, fluid and fragmented (cyber-)culture we are faced not only with “the end of the great narratives”, but above all with the end of the long career of narrative as such. It is said that it is nothing but an illusion which is to provide us with a false, always created ex post factum, sense of coherence and teleology. Furthermore, this conviction finds its resonance in a crisis of traditional narrative standards. In other words, the traditional capacity of story-telling, of providing, more or less coherent, meaningful, accountable synthesis of what happens in our lives is no longer at our disposal. Or even – as its opponents, often quite enthusiastically, claim – we are no longer at need to have and to tell the stories. Second, also the power of imagination (in its different forms) has shared the same fate. In consequence what constitutes our cultural landscape, and our (un-)individual stance on it, is the procession of fabricated images and linguistic clichés. Third, even if we try to defend narrative imagination, following many eminent scholars who did and do, we are told that it should be relegated to the realm of poetics and as such it is devoid of any special value for philosophical reflection (except for purely aesthetic analyses). It is said that it is deprived of any epistemological, ontological and ethical importance. In opposition to that view we will argue for the recognition of the inescapable character of narrative imagination. For it plays fundamental, hardly irreplaceable, role in constituting (and broadening) our sense of reality, our personal and collective identities, in constituting temporal and historical dimensions of our existence, in shaping of our relations with others. It allows us to reveal the new possibilities, to experience reality and ourselves otherwise, to transform our sense of being oneself as being another and as being-with-others. In this sense it plays not only a synthetic role – mediating between fact and fiction, life and story, fact and moral obligation, activity and passivity etc. – in order to create a basic, even if only transient, sense of continuity and coherence. It can also play sometimes highly disruptive role often leading to a genuine existential and ethical transformation of individuals as well as to a cultural re-construction. During the seminar we will analyze the structure and different functions of narrative imagination in its both forms – fictional and historical, while showing that this opposition is not to be seen in absolute terms.
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
After the course students:
- review and enrich vocabulary and linguistic skills in English (on level C1);
- have orderly and detailed knowledge about different roles narrative imagination plays in human life and in culture;
- have basic knowledge about the main directions of development and new achievements in the field of philosophy;
- know the basic philosophical methods and argumentative strategies characteristic for the main philosophical subdisciplines;
- know the methods of interpreting philosophical text;
- have ability to find, analyze, evaluate, select and use information from written and electronic sources;
- have ability to acquire knowledge on their own as well as of developing research skills while guided by a supervisor;
- can read and interpret a philosophical text;
- understand an oral presentation of philosophical ideas and arguments and have necessary skills to prepare their own oral presentations;
- correctly use acquired philosophical terminology;
- correctly define terms of the common language and correctly create definitions of their own terms used in their presentations;
- analyze philosophical arguments, identify their crucial theses and premises and reveal the interrelations between them;
- choose argumentative strategies; creates, on the basic level, critical arguments; formulate responses to a critique
- under the guidance of a supervisor conduct research on a basic level;
- are open to new ideas and ready to change his opinion in light of available data and arguments;
- on the basis of creative analysis of new situations and problems create, on their own, new ways of solving them;
- undertake and initiate, on their own, simple research activities;
- effectively organize their own research work and are capable to critically evaluate its development;
- can work in a group by undertaking different roles in it.
Assessment criteria
The final grade will be based on: active participation in discussions during the course and an oral presentation or a written essay.
In both cases assessed will be: the ability to understand and solve a given philosophical problem by using defensible arguments; using correctly the acquired terminology; comparing different perspectives on a given problem and evaluating critically arguments of different perspectives; using the most appropriate argumentative strategy for a given philosophical problem; argumentative and narrative clarity of an oral presentation or a written essay; convincing and adequate responding to a critique. Evaluated will be also the basic research skills such as ability to find, select and critically use relevant sources.
Permissible number of absences: 2 in a semester
Bibliography
W. Benjamin, “Experience and Poverty”
H. Blumenberg, “Work on Myth” (frag.)
H. White, “The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality”
F. Kermode, “Secrets and Narrative Sequence”
A. Giddens, “Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in Late Modern Age” (frag.)
D. Carr, “Time, Narrative, and History” (frag.)
Ch. Taylor, “Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity” (frag.)
Ch. Taylor, “Modern Social Imaginaries” (frag.)
R. Kearney, “Narrative Matters”
J. Lear, “Testing the Limits: The Place of Tragedy in Aristotle’s Ethics”
P. Ricoeur, “The Function of Fiction in Shaping Reality”
P. Ricoeur, “Ideology and Utopia” in: idem, “From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics”, vol. II
V. Turner, “Social Dramas and Stories about Them”
Martha C. Nussbaum, “Narrative Imagination”, in: idem “Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education”
P. Ricoeur, “Time and Narrative”, vol. I-III (frag.)
R. Schafer, “Narration in the Psychoanalytic Dialogue”
S. Freud, “Constructions in Psychoanalysis”
J. Hillman, “Healing Fiction” (frag.)
J. Vassilieva, “Narrative Psychology: Identity, Transformation, and Ethics” (frag.)
T. Sarbin ed., “Narrative Psychology: The Storied Nature of Human Conduct” (selected essays)
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: