Enlivened Generalities
Truism in Mill and Dewey
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4270324 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Wayne C Miller (0000-0002-5844-630X, corresponding author), William Cook Miller |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 611-632 |
| Publication date | 2016-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Literary History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0028-6087 • E-ISSN: 1080-661X |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/nlh.2016.0032 |
| OpenAlex | W2562361262 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 12 |
Literary critics have long discussed linguistic doxa (understood as truisms, cliches, generalities) in a negative light, as impeding genuine communication and promoting false consciousness. This essay offers a more nuanced account of doxa. It connects the skeptical attitude toward truistic language to debates surrounding epiphanic experience in the long centuries of Reformation. Further, it argues that the liberal tradition of language theory has generally approached the topic of doxa and epiphany in two ways: one, represented here by John Stuart Mill, emphasizing the psychological and social importance of truisms; the other, represented here by John Dewey, contrasting linguistic doxa and scientific reality. Finally, it proposes that a fresh emphasis on the epiphanic dimension of language might enrich contemporary literary criticism
Art · Consciousness · Criticism · Doxa · Epiphany · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literary criticism · Literature · Mill · Skepticism · Sociology · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · History · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis · Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
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