The Metaphysical Function of the Narrative: An Analysis Based on Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit” Cover Image

Metafizyczna funkcja narracji – analiza zagadnienia na przykładzie Heglowskiej „Fenomenologii ducha”
The Metaphysical Function of the Narrative: An Analysis Based on Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit”

Author(s): Filip Gołaszewski
Subject(s): Philosophy, Studies of Literature, Metaphysics, 19th Century Philosophy, German Idealism
Published by: Wydział Socjologii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: focalisation; narratology; narration; metaphysics; phenomenology

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to characterise the metaphysical function of the narrative. First, the text describes Aristotle’s classic paradigm about narrative. Second, attention is drawn to the usefulness of Mieke Bal’s narratological apparatus in contemporary research on the subject of narration. Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit is analysed in terms of multi-perspectivity and with the adoption of the category of focalisation, which helps to clarify a change in the narrative agent. In this context, attention is drawn to the structural similarity of Hegel’s text and James Joyce’s Ulysses. In conclusion, the metaphysical perspectives resulting from a rejection of Aristotle’s paradigm are indicated. In this context, the Phenomenology of Spirit is a positive example of a work going beyond the horizons of Lyotard’s postmodern critique of grand narratives. On this basis, the article suggests the possibility of rejecting the classical opposition between narrative and metaphysics.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 22
  • Page Range: 391-414
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: Polish