Literature and Philosophy

Objectives

1) To establish appropriate links between two domains of the humanities, tied by the project of knowing, organizing and expressing the world.
2) To distinguish philosophical from literary knowledge.
3) To discover in the literary expression the preoccupations that are proper to philosophical questioning and systematization.
4) To relate literature with literary studies (criticism, theory and history of literature) and to evaluate the role of Philosophy in the conception and the methods specific to these domains.
5) To deepen the critical reading of the literary text, observing how its codes bend before the expression of the preoccupations of the author as well as of his cultural epoch.
6) To aesthetically appreciate works from different periods and literary genres, explaining the reasons behind the judgments formulated.
7) To integrate literature in life and, on this manner, to increase one’s capacity for critical intervention in community life.

Program

1. Philosophical and literary knowledge of the world and of the self.
2. Poetry and the intuitive apprehension of the world.
3. The artistic specificity of literature.
4. Literature, literary studies and philosophy.
5. The doctrinal basis of the construction of the Portuguese literary history of the XIX and XX centuries.
6. Literature of the classical epoch and the rediscovery of Ancient Philosophy.
7. The Renaissance reinterpretation of neo-Platonism.
8. The conceptions of man and of love in the writers of the sixteenth and seventeen centuries.
9.The lyric of Camões.
10. Stoicism, Epicureanism and the roots of the “philosophy of moderation” in XVI century poetry; the influence of Stoicism.
11. The presence of Seneca in the sermons of Father António Vieira.
12. Philosophy, literature and identity.
13. The “national philosophies”.
14. The place of poetry and of poets in Portuguese Philosophy.
15. The philosophy of “saudade", metaphysics and its literary expression.
16. Teixeira de Pascoaes, Antero de Quental and Roberto de Mesquita.

Teaching Methodologies

Theoretical and theoretical-practical classes, according to the pre-established program of studies. In the exposition of themes, the analysis is allied to the commentary of critical documents and texts.
A basic bibliography is indicated at the beginning of each theme, which is afterwards enlarged. The fact that the theme of each class is previously announced allows students to prepare themselves, contextualizing the information necessary for an interventive attitude. Often, students are also re-quested to prepare and lead the discussions in a regime of a seminar.
The participation in the seminars and the quality of the interventions is evaluated, in addition to the evaluation of a research paper (from 8 to 12 pages long) on a theme integrated in the program, which is presented orally and submitted to discussion before being handed in definitively.

Bibliography

Afonso Botelho e António Braz Teixeira – Filosofia da Saudade. Lisboa, Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, 1986
Luís de Camões, Obra Completa. Lisboa, Sá da Costa, 19855.
Francisco Rodrigues Lobo, O Pastor Peregrino. Lisboa, Vega, 2004.
Roberto de Mesquita, Almas Cativas. Lisboa, Ática, 1989.
Antero de Quental, Sonetos Completos. Porto, 1983.
Teixeira de Pascoaes, Obras Completas. Lisboa, Bertrand, 194-
Vieira, Padre António, Obra Completa. Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, 2013.