Life of Pi by Yann Martel: The Use of Contradictions inan Experimental Novel on the Epistemological Status of Theistic Belief
Life of Pi by Yann Martel: The Use of Contradictions inan Experimental Novel on the Epistemological Status of Theistic Belief
Author(s): Joanna Klara TeskeSubject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL & Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II
Keywords: Life of Pi; Yann Martel; contradictions; belief; cognition
Summary/Abstract: The essay discusses Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, focusing on the novel’s use of contradictions to present the theme of the theistic, atheistic and agnostic beliefs. The novel seems to defend the thesis that theism is rational (on pragmatic rather than epistemic grounds), atheism in its choice of commitment resembles faith, whereas agnosticism can be identified with dogmatic materialism and a passive attitude towards life. To illustrate this view the novel engages the readers in an experiment, offering them two mutually exclusive versions of Pi’s survival story.
Journal: Roczniki Humanistyczne
- Issue Year: 62/2014
- Issue No: 05
- Page Range: 279-294
- Page Count: 16
- Language: English