Borges, James a Proust mezi Krabicemi Brillo. K místě literatury ve filozofii umění Arthura C. Danta

This paper focuses on Arthur Danto’s approach to literature. One of the leading philosophers of art in the analytical philosophical tradition, Danto published on art ontology, defining art and art historicity as well as serving as an art critic for the magazine The Nation in the late phase of his career. The essence of Danto’s philosophy thus lies in the visual arts, and it seems he was not interested in literature from a philosophical point of view. However, following Garry L. Hagberg, I show that Danto was not only a keen reader but also reflected on literature, its specificity, and its role. In the first part of the paper, I scrutinize what — in Danto’s view — is a literary work of art, and I compare his position to the view of New Criticism. In the second part, I explore the often neglected dimension of Danto’s philosophy of art, i.e., the spectator’s emotional response to an artwork. I argue that Danto draws on works of literature to illustrate the nature of this response for the reason that they provide the basis for a deeper understanding in this context.