Faculty Lectures

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http://hdl.handle.net/10066/12213

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Browsing Faculty Lectures by Author "Eldridge, Richard Thomas, 1953-"

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    The Ends of Literary Narrative
    (Swarthmore College, 2006-01-25) Eldridge, Richard Thomas, 1953-
    Serious literary fictional narratives seem important; they have a significant place in university curricula. But why are they important? And what makes them serious and literary, as opposed to or in addition to just fictional and fun? They seem not to embody accredited knowledge in anything like the ways in which it is embodied in scientific treatises, well-documented histories, or mathematical proofs. These questions are investigated by taking up the topic of how literary narratives reach their endings. Understanding poetic closure is, it is suggested, central to understanding the cognitive work that literary narratives do.
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    Historical Understanding and Political Ideals: Kant and Benj
    (Swarthmore College, 2011-02-03) Eldridge, Richard Thomas, 1953-
    Professor of Philosophy Richard Eldridge takes up the following questions in this talk: 1) How do historical narratives explain events and provide understanding? 2) What is the role of political ideals in the framing of historical narratives? 3) How, for both Kant and Benjamin, does historical narrative play an essential role in furthering the task of (critical) philosophy? 4) What are the specific, opposed conceptions of historical understanding and ideal political life held by Kant and Benjamin?