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Susan B. Brill

Bio: Susan B. Brill is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Literary theory & Sociological criticism. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 6 citations.

Papers
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Book
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: The authors discusses the implications of Wittgenstein's work for a number of contemporary critical orientations (notably poststructualism, feminism, and psychology) as well as actual applications of Wittgstein's philosophy for literary criticism: diverse literary texts (including poems and stories by Native American authors) are approached via a Wittgenensteinian method as a means of discerning which critical approaches might be more or less efficacious.
Abstract: The crucial point of Brill's study is that of fit: which critical methods prove most useful towards opening up which texts? Close investigations into the parameters of the language games of texts, critics, and methods enable us to determine which paths to take towards more complete descriptive analyses and critique. Such an emphasis on the philosophical method of Ludwig Wittgenstein reorients literary criticism to involve a conjoint responsibility to both reader and text as the literary critic assumes the humbler role of a guide who assists a reader in/to diverse literary texts. Wittgenstein's philosophical approach provides us with a strong means of developing such a method for literary criticism-a method that points the way forward beyond postmodern criticisms and to a categorically new approach to literary texts. Brill's work discusses at length the implications of Wittgenstein for literary criticism and theory. The volume specifically investigates the implications of Wittgenstein's work for a number of contemporary critical orientations (notably poststructualism, feminism, and psychology). In addition, the research includes actual applications of Wittgenstein for literary criticism: diverse literary texts (including a number of poems and stories by Native American authors) are approached via a Wittgensteinian method as a means of discerning which critical approaches might be more or less efficacious. Not only does the book provide a solid introduction to Wittgensteinian philosophy for the critical scholars, but it also provides a clear methodology useful to critics seeking a means to navigate through the entanglement of contemporary criticism and theory. Brill argues that a reliance upon the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein can enable literary critics to escape the seemingly endless dialectic between modern and postmodern theory. Instead of debating which theory is theoretically best, we need to describe when theories work-and when they do not.

6 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: McDowell's revisionist reading of Kant has been criticised by as mentioned in this paper, who argue that it amounts to no more than a series of terminological shifts or substitutions, such that (for instance) the well-known problem with explaining how sensuous intuitions can be somehow synthesised with concepts of understanding is replaced by an equally opaque and question-begging appeal to Kantian'receptivity' and'spontaneity'.
Abstract: In this article I raise a number of issues concerning John McDowell’s widely influential revisionist reading of Kant. These have to do with what I see as his failure – despite ambitious claims in that regard – to overcome the various problematic dualisms that dogged Kant’s thought throughout the three Critiques. Moreover, as I show, they have continued to mark the discourse of those who inherit Kant’s agenda in this or that updated, e.g., ‘linguistified’ form. More specifically, I argue that McDowell’s ‘new’ reading amounts to no more than a series of terminological shifts or substitutions, such that (for instance) the well-known problem with explaining how ‘sensuous intuitions’ can be somehow synthesised with ‘concepts of understanding’ is replaced – scarcely resolved – by an equally opaque and question-begging appeal to Kantian ‘receptivity’ and ‘spontaneity’. My essay goes on to discuss a number of kindred dichotomies, among them that of nature and ‘second nature’, all of which can basically be seen as resulting from the normative deficit entailed by McDowell’s particular kind of half-way naturalizing project. I conclude that this project shows insufficient regard to the history of post-Kantian continental thought, in particular the similar problems faced by ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ idealists like Fichte and Schelling.

12 citations

01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a history of the Problem atic (PAT) problem and its history in the literature, e.g., Section 5.4.1.
Abstract: ....................................................................................................................xix Part One History of the Problem atic.............................................

7 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argued that broad reflective equilibria offered a vision of foundational theology that avoided the pitfalls of foundationalism, overcoming the foundationalism of fundamental theology, and presented a systematic and historical argument.
Abstract: When I was completing my book on foundational theology, I presented a paper on the concept of broad reflective equilibrium and foundational theology to a group of colleagues at a conference sponsored by the Association of Theological Schools. This paper summarized the book's concluding section, which dealt with the relationship between contemporary criticisms of foundationalism and a foundational theology employing the method of broad reflective equilibrium. It advanced a systematic and historical argument. Systematically, the section argued that the method of broad reflective equilibrium offered a vision of foundational theology that avoided the pitfalls of foundationalism, overcoming the foundationalism of fundamental theology. It appealed to current discussions about methodology, specifically, the discussions on reflective equilibrium in the philosophy of science and in political ethics. The historical argument appealed to Schleiermacher by relating Schleiermacher's stance on the relationship between systematic and philosophical theology to the conception of a nonfoundationalist foundational theology, employing the method of broad reflective equilibrium.

4 citations

Book
01 Jan 2010

3 citations