Othello and the Problem of Knowledge

This book analyses the epistemological problems that Shakespeare explores in Othello. In particular, it uses the methods of analytic philosophy, especially the work of the later Wittgenstein, to characterize these problems and the play.

Autorentext

Richard Gaskin is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, UK. He has published extensively in metaphysics, philosophy of language, philosophy of literature, literary theory and criticism, and the classical tradition. His books include Language and World: A Defence of Linguistic Idealism (Routledge, 2020), Tragedy and Redress in Western Literature: A Philosophical Perspective (Routledge, 2018), and Language, Truth, and Literature: A Defence of Literary Humanism (2013).

Zusammenfassung
This book analyses the epistemological problems that Shakespeare explores in Othello. In particular, it uses the methods of analytic philosophy, especially the work of the later Wittgenstein, to characterize these problems and the play.

Inhalt

1. Shakespeare, Descartes, and Scepticism 2. Mind, Communication, and Deception 3. Deception, Soliloquy, and Knowledge 4. Epistemological Models of the Tragedy (I): Loss of Knowledge 5. Context, Scepticism, and the Philosophy Room 6. Epistemological Models of the Tragedy (II): Loss of Certainty 7. Certainty, Hinges, and the Counterfactual 8. Epilogue