Explanation in Composition
Gertrude Stein and the Contingency of Inductive Reasoning
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11792011 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Johanna Winant (corresponding author), Johanna Winant Johanna Winant |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 95-95 |
| Publication date | 2016-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Modern Literature (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-281X • E-ISSN: 1529-1464 |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2979/jmodelite.39.3.07 |
| OpenAlex | W2519534610 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 4 |
Gertrude Stein’s experimental and more widely-read poetry, fiction, and lectures participate in a philosophical conversation about explanation. Her novel Q.E.D., her poem “An Elucidation,” and her lecture “Composition as Explanation,” show how Stein theorizes the possibility and the problems of explaining based on inductive reasoning. Stein endorses inductive reasoning, using facts alone, as the basis of an explanation, although she is also aware that eschewing deductive reference to laws or theories means that any resulting explanations are necessarily more subjective and therefore more contingent. Understanding Stein’s philosophical ambitions allows readers to clarify, although not solve, her notorious difficulty; Stein’s work is difficult because she is writing about a difficult philosophical problem: when and how subjective experience may justify an explanation
Composition (language · Contingency · Conversation · Deductive reasoning · Epistemology · Inductive reasoning · Linguistics · Poetry · Historical and Literary Studies · Philosophy · Philosophy, Science, and History · Visual Culture and Art Theory
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2025 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |