Title:
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The significance of F.R. Leavis : the philosophical and educational context of the critic as anti-philosopher
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My thesis is that the social and literary criticism of
F.R. Leavis is best understood by being placed in a
broadly Idealist philosophical tradition. This is
because the social and ethical concerns characteristic of
Idealism, if not its metaphysical elements, inform and
underpin Leavis's work. Further, Leavis's avowed hostility
to philosophy is explained as resulting from the
influence of Moore and Russell, proponents of an
abstract, analytical philosophy, upon the Cambridge of
Leavis's early career.
The central portion of the thesis examines some of
Leavis's most maligned concepts, the organic community
and the Great Tradition, in the light of criticisms made
by such as Terry Eagleton and Raymond Williams. In the
process these key Leavisian concepts are shown to have a
greater cogency and ethical relevance than such critics
allow. Here the Marx-Hegel nexus has a considerable role
to play.
Further, Leavis's ethical theory and its relationship to
his view of literature as a moral force is shown to be
best understood by drawing upon Aristotelian notions of flourishing and the good life. The contemporary
dimension of Aristotelian philosophy, for example as
exemplified in the work of Martha Nussbaum, is most
relevant here. Leavis's view of aestheticism is considered
and defended as part of the ethical account he
derived, however implicitly, from the Idealist tradition.
This, attacked by Moore and Russell, is a tradition
ultimately rooted in Hegel, who was profoundly influenced
by Aristotle.
The ensuing chapter focuses on Leavis's view of education
and sets out to defend his vision of the university as an
organic community by taking account of context - Leavis's
own contemporary milieu and the Idealist conceptions of
education which underlie his own.
A substantive conclusion follows in which there is an
overall review of the concerns of preceding chapters and
an account offered of the strengths and weaknesses of
Leavis's position.
The importance of his insights for literature teaching
today are emphasized, in the light of the present Government's
demands on English teachers and the antithetical
sway of literary theory in contemporary critical
discourse.
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