This is a Work of Fiction: Rethinking the "Doing"� of Philosophy

Abstract

Within the contemporary philosophical community, written language serves as a primary means of conveying ideas, positions, and arguments; however, discussion of the content of these communicated ideas usually takes precedence over discussion about their modes of presentation—that is, the intentional arrangement of the words themselves. Taking into account a postmodern conception of language and its direct relation to meaning, it becomes important to examine the function of written discourse in the development of understanding, beginning with a recognition of the reader-writer relationship, in which the responsibility for meaning-making falls to both participants. This relationship, while indicative of the hermeneutic articulation of experience as contingent upon interpretation, also lends support to liberal ironist arguments for nonfoundationalist human solidarity. Though readers and writers interact within the context of any mode of writing, their relationship is particularly crucial to narrative fiction, presented here as a productive means of discussing philosophical ideas. Through examination of the philosophical works of Rorty, Sartre, Foucault, and Derrida and analysis of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Everything is Illuminated, we can come to a greater understanding of postmodern accounts of experience, the position of writing as a form of discourse, and the vital role narrative fiction plays in the liberal project of fostering solidarity.