Why was Raymond Tallis’s book Not Saussure largely ignored by literary critics? Here I present one response to this question: he does not offer a novel alternative system for literary interpretation. And I consider whether the situation... more
Why was Raymond Tallis’s book Not Saussure largely ignored by literary critics? Here I present one response to this question: he does not offer a novel alternative system for literary interpretation. And I consider whether the situation is any different in other fields, introducing a rival to Simon Baron-Cohen’s empathizing-systematizing theory of gender differences when doing so.
In examining the discipline of phenomenology and its relationship to the Christian concept of revelation, we enter into a paradigm study of the relationship between philosophy and Christian theology, if theology is defined as the study... more
In examining the discipline of phenomenology and its relationship to the Christian concept of revelation, we enter into a paradigm study of the relationship between philosophy and Christian theology, if theology is defined as the study of revealed religion. In this necessarily short article, after introducing key terms and concepts, I will argue that phenomenology can illuminate aspects of natural revelation and also clarify aspects of special revelation. The starting point of phenomenology as a human activity is both necessary in terms of the limits of its discipline as an epistemology, yet also a limitation which points to the necessity of ‘outside’ help from special revelation. I will treat in particular the theme of ‘consciousness’ in phenomenology as a potential subject matter of natural revelation and discuss to what extent phenomenology opens up or distorts this light. The important insight that hiddenness is a condition for the reception of revelation is dealt with next, alongside its corollary of the inexhaustibility of revelation. Finally there is a brief exploration of how phenomenology’s treatment of ‘things themselves’ could help clarify an understanding of the relationship between the immanent and the economic trinity.
The second edition of Raymond Tallis's book Not Saussure includes a preface which describes how the first edition of his book did not meet with the reaction he expected from the community of literary critics. In this paper, I consider why... more
The second edition of Raymond Tallis's book Not Saussure includes a preface which describes how the first edition of his book did not meet with the reaction he expected from the community of literary critics. In this paper, I consider why Tallis's arguments have been ignored, imitating the style of Carrie Ichikawa Jenkins.
