Oppmerksomhet, fallgruvebevissthet og etikk: Vitenskapsfilosofiske refleksjoner

Abstract

Inspired by Wittgenstein, this article starts with a suggestion that we need to discuss the question of method in literary studies on the basis of a differentiation between different research acts. It argues that a methodical procedure for the interpretation of literary texts is best understood as a response to ethical demands on the reader. Building on Iris Murdoch’s notion of attention, and to a notion of pitfall-awareness that emerges from Stanley Cavell’s reading of Wittgenstein, the article suggests some principles on which such a methodical procedure might be based, and argues for the importance of such an approach as a way of strengthening scholarly literary interpretation as an open and communal field of activity, in which not only the resulting interpretations but also the procedure itself invites and even requires the critical scrutiny of peers.