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Merja Polvinen

Bio: Merja Polvinen is an academic researcher from University of Helsinki. The author has contributed to research in topics: Cognition & Narrative. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 15 publications receiving 85 citations.

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TL;DR: The authors examines recent works of literary criticism and theory which make use of chaos theory, and analyses their explicit and implicit assumptions concerning interdisciplinary knowledge, revealing a wide variety of epistemological assumptions and comparing them can give us a clearer picture of what can and cannot be achieved by combining literary studies and the natural sciences.
Abstract: This study examines recent works of literary criticism and theory which make use of chaos theory, and analyses their explicit and implicit assumptions concerning interdisciplinary knowledge. Whether the prime motivation is to draw on the authority of science, to transgress the borderline between the disciplines in order to question the knowledge produced by them, or to gain an overarching transdisciplinary status for literary or cultural analysis, these texts reflect different conceptions of the knowledge produced by the sciences, by literary analysis, and even by literature itself. A detailed investigation of the writings on chaos theory and literature reveals within this seemingly narrow field a wide variety of epistemological assumptions, and comparing them can give us a clearer picture of what can and cannot be achieved by combining literary studies and the natural sciences.

7 citations

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TL;DR: The authors examines recent theories of fictional characters and raises the issue of how far characters can be understood with reference to human intersubjectivity, and examines the relation between characters and human subjectivity.
Abstract: This article examines recent theories of fictional characters, and raises the issue of how far characters can be understood with reference to human intersubjectivity. On the one hand, empirical res...

3 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article presented an account of the design and perceived results of a course on cognitive narratology, including issues such as social cognition (mind reading) and the mental construction of fictional worlds.
Abstract: This article presents an account of the design and perceived results of a course on cognitive narratology. The course aims to introduce the theoretical apparatus of cognitive narratology, including issues such as social cognition (mind reading) and the mental construction of fictional worlds. Students explore these issues by reading and analyzing science fiction and fantasy texts in which various narrative conventions are concretized within what would normally be impossible worlds and scenarios. The aim in using texts from popular genres is both to create in students reading experiences that engage their imaginations and to give them explicit illustrations of the cognitive functions of narrative. Of these functions, the course focuses on literature as mental work, that is, on texts providing dynamic patterns of thought for readers to act out. A focus on literature as mental work can provide students with a theoretical outlook and analytical toolbox while at the same time preserving a central role for thei...

3 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
25 Mar 1992-JAMA
TL;DR: The stated purpose of this book is to provide a synthesis of theories and methodologies that promote a growing permeability of boundaries and that allow for intellectual accommodation in medicine.
Abstract: Medicine has evolved from the undertaking of the individual practitioner to a state in which many disciplines become involved in administering both diagnostic and treatment services. It has become a standard of care in hospital and clinic-based practice to utilize a multidisciplinary approach to medical care. Multidisciplinary modes of practice, however, do not ensure that participants interact cooperatively, or with the exclusive purpose of patient benefit. The usual mode of interaction within medical academic and clinical environments promotes individualism, protectionism, and some degree of isolation, not infrequently to the detriment of patient care. The stated purpose of this book is to provide a synthesis of theories and methodologies that promote a growing permeability of boundaries and that allow for intellectual accommodation. Health care professionals have been turning to interdisciplinary intervention approaches for several reasons, but the most compelling in medicine is the need to solve problems that are beyond the

443 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Booth as discussed by the authors argues that readers have overlooked Nabokov's ironies in Lolita, when Humbert Humberts is given full and unlimited control over the rhetorical resources.
Abstract: Can we really be surprised that readers have overlooked Nabokov’s ironies in Lolita, when Humbert Humbert is given full and unlimited control over the rhetorical resources? . . . One of the delights of this delightful, profound book is that of watching Humbert almost make a case for himself. But Nabokov has insured that many, perhaps most, of his readers will be unsuccessful, in that they will identify Humbert with the author more than Nabokov intends. (391) Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction, Chapter 13

115 citations

01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: This volume critically examines the cultural, legal, and medical factors that influence physicians’ decisions on use of narcotics for cancer pain and establishes objective guidelines for making these decisions.
Abstract: The emergence of substance abuse as a major social problem, the growing awareness of the risks of iatrogenic drug addiction, and the increasing government surveillance of narcotic distribution are affecting physicians’ attitudes toward therapeutic use of opiates and inhibiting many clinicians who treat cancer patients from prescribing adequate drugs for pain control. This volume critically examines the cultural, legal, and medical factors that influence physicians’ decisions on use of narcotics for cancer pain and establishes objective guidelines for making these decisions. Most of the fundamental issues in the field of pain -including epistemological questions -are addressed by a truly multidisciplinary group of contributors, including drug abuse experts, government regulators, lawyers, sociologists, anthropologists, historians, philosophers, and theologians, as well as basic scientists, clinical pharmacologists, pharmacists, anesthesiologists, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, oncologists, internists, and nurses.

79 citations