The institutional context of the humanities is undergoing major change due to the increasing demands that higher education be accountable, cost effective, and vocationally relevant. Understanding the current organisation and academic state of English and philosophy is important when assessing the actual and potential interactions between them. The steady growth of English in the recent past ensures that its institutional presence is very much stronger than that of philosophy. This situation probably will not change as English undergraduate recruitment is likely to remain at something like its current high level. Another aspect of English which has reinforced its dominant position within the humanities is the attitude which its practitioners take towards its definition as a subject. Some would view it as a collection of parts and struggling with a crisis about its identity whilst others would see it as a subject which has sufficient structural and cultural flexibility to incorporate a wide variety of different elements. Neither view would regard English as having the rigid disciplinary boundaries which would obviously preclude interaction with some other areas of the humanities and even some areas of the social sciences. This flexible attitude on the part of its practitioners has facilitated the incorporation of broader approaches to literary and cultural criticism. As the institutional strength of philosophy and sociology has been eroded, areas which traditionally came under their remit have been embraced by theorists in English. Philosophy and other small (in terms of student recruitment) humanities subjects, such as theology and classics, are severely beleaguered by the present institutional framework. The emphasis on student numbers and vocational relevance has placed these disciplines in a very difficult situation and the introduction of top up fees will simply exacerbate their problems. The institutional weakness of philosophy is compounded by a problem it shares with a number of humanities subjects, namely, the failure to communicate its value to the wider academic community and general public as effectively as it should. One of the most pressing challenges confronting philosophy is to provide more persuasive articulations of this worth, and success in this endeavour will require strategic thinking about the place of the discipline within the panoply of humanities.
Arguably, English is an essentially contested concept1, which means that there is continuing debate about its use, and this has the consequence that the relationship with philosophy cannot be precisely defined in a way that would be acceptable to virtually all its practitioners. One way of approaching the connections between English and philosophy is via consideration of some issues raised by the finely expressed presentation of the quarrel between poetry and philosophy in Plato's Republic [Book X, 607b]. His treatment of this question exemplifies two key themes which shape the interaction between English and philosophy. One is that of philosophy competing with literature and the other is philosophy displaying some of the significant characteristics of literature. Very broadly speaking, the former idea finds favour in analytic philosophy and the latter notion is endorsed by continental philosophy.
In philosophy departments analytic philosophy is still heavily preponderant. This is reflected at degree level in both the approach to philosophical problems and the usual manner of studying the history of philosophy (which starts with Greek thinkers, continues with philosophers from Descartes to Kant, and then proceeds to the creators of analytic philosophy). When analytic philosophy was founded, a central feature of its approach was the close connection with mathematics and science, and lack of interest in aesthetics and ethics. There has been a gradual turn from this original emphasis to one with language and the mind. Despite this change in focus, the view of philosophy as a kind of science has been the ideal for most in the analytic tradition and main method used has been the practice of conceptual. 1 In Gallie's sense (see W.B. Gallie, [1956] ‘Essentially Contested Concepts’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 56, pp.167-98). 32 English and Philosophy analysis. A widespread position amongst these philosophers is that philosophy and literature are diametrically opposed because literary expressions of philosophical notions are deleterious to clear thinking. The strongest link between English and analytical philosophy is the contribution which the philosophy of language2 makes to English conceived as the study of language. Major topics of concern in the philosophy of language are the nature of meaning, the relations between words and objects, different theories of language learning, and the distinction between the literal and figurative employment of language. These issues evidently have a role to play in shaping the theoretical frameworks of linguistic study. For instance, the confluence of philosophy of language with empirical linguistic studies has produced some interesting recent work, such as the use of H.P Grice’s ideas in Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson’s Relevance. Furthermore, research of this kind raises the question of whether the philosophy of language ought to have a significant part in the theoretical constructs of descriptive linguistics. It is worth noting in passing that there are some other less important and systematic connections between English and analytic philosophy than those embodied in the philosophy of language. A currently popular case of this is the employment of the notion of intention from the philosophy of mind in the debate about an author's intentions in creating a literary work.
The continental mode of philosophical discourse is predominant in Europe and increasingly prevalent in literary studies in the Anglo-American sphere. Philosophers generally assume that the analytical and continental attitudes to philosophy differ very substantially.3 This presumption underlines the import of the definite movement in Britain in the field of philosophy away from traditional analytic and towards continental philosophy that has arisen from a feeling of disillusionment with the analytic approach. In general terms continental philosophy foregrounds concerns about human life and the existential condition as well as accepting the affinities between philosophy and literature. Given this orientation it is not surprising that the most active interaction between English and philosophy is in the field of continental thought. Arthur Danto's [1987] distinctions of philosophy as/and/of literature are helpful in characterising the nature of this complex relationship. He differentiates between the scientific ideal of analytic philosophy and the conception of philosophy as having literary attributes. As philosophy has aspects which are identifiable from literature it follows that analysis of the rhetorical and stylistic features of philosophy is a potentially promising endeavour. From this standpoint, it is noteworthy that a considerable number of classic philosophical works display exceptional literary quality and many philosophy degrees devote considerable attention to teaching writing skills. Literature may contribute insight into questions that are frequently deemed philosophical. A number of philosophers, such as Sartre, have produced literary works which evidently have philosophical ambitions and authors can further philosophical understanding. For example, Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment may help to deepen appreciation of moral problems and it exemplifies the role of literature in developing ethical thinking. A different kind of case to this is the literary representation of a particular philosophical school, like the presentation of existentialist ideas in American literature of the 1960s. Philosophy augments the insight which is derived from literary works by offering general conceptions within which questions about literature can be framed and elucidated. The prominence which several schools of literary theory, such as Marxism, feminism, and hermeneutics, have achieved should not obscure the nature of the fundamental issues raised by literary works. An awareness of the history of philosophy is important for understanding the development of these philosophical concerns about literature. The questions are closely related to areas as diverse and wide ranging as aesthetics, ethics, political philosophy, the philosophies of language, logic and mind, epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of 2 Philosophical logic and philosophy of mind are also relevant to this but their role is less significant. 3 Arguably Wittgenstein seems to be almost alone in being appreciated by philosophers of both persuasions. 33 Articles religion. For instance, the philosophy of religion and literary treatments of religion cover many of the same topics like the nature of faith and the status of religious language.
A major area of common ground is that English and philosophy develop some of the same transferable work skills. These abilities are general problem solving capacities, communication skills, persuasive powers, and writing skills. A higher level of interaction would help both disciplines to provide more effective explanations of their intellectual and economic value to the wider academic community and general public. The richness and depth of English would be improved by greater input from philosophy, and the understanding of philosophical questions would be augmented by reflection on English literature. The institutional presence of philosophy and its integration with other humanities subjects would be significantly reinforced through increased connections with English. Furthermore, it seems likely that English studies would have little to lose from this interaction. Academics in English and philosophy should seek to develop the points of disciplinary intersection so as to better withstand the challenges and pressures of the current institutional context of humanities scholarship.
References
A.C Danto, [1987] `Philosophy and/as/of Literature', in Anthony J. Cascardi (ed.), Literature and the Question of Philosophy, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, pp.3-23.
F. Dostoevsky, [1995] Crime and Punishment, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Plato, [1997] Republic, tr. C.D.C Reeve, in J.M. Cooper (ed.), Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, pp.971-1224.
D. Sperber and D. Wilson, [1995] Relevance: Communication and Cognition, (second edition), Oxford: Blackwell.
