The goal of this panel is to explore the relationships between reading and philosophy. In particular, it will examine how different philosophical traditions—rationalism, phenomenology, and the philosophy of tragedy—might shape and complicate the ways we engage with literary texts; and how the practice and experience of reading might constitute a distinct form of thinking. Bringing together scholars working at the intersection of literature and philosophy, the panel will investigate how specific modes of reading emerge from particular philosophies, and vice versa. From rationalist theories of causality and their relation to literary fiction, to the challenges of conceptualising the tragic histories of colonialism and slavery, to phenomenological approaches to reading and/as translation, this session will offer a lively debate and discussion of reading as both a philosophical problem and a philosophical practice.

The rationale for organising this session is twofold. Firstly, contemporary debates in literary studies have seen a renewed interest in the nature of reading, whether in the context of debates about ‘surface’ reading, symptomatic reading, affect theory, translation, or reading psychology. For instance, books such as Elaine Auyoung’s When Fiction Feels Real: Representation and the Reading Mind (2019) and Rita Felski’s Hooked: Art and Attachment (2020) examine the experience of reading and its role in literary interpretation. Secondly, recent work in philosophy has reconsidered the role of the reading experience in philosophical thinking. In particular, works such as Katrin Pahl’s Tropes of Transport (2012) and Robert Lucas Scott’s Reading Hegel: Irony, Recollection, Critique (2025) argue that philosophical thinking cannot be separated from its literary presentation or style and therefore from the experience of reading. This session will seek to bridge these disciplinary gaps and examine how debates within literary studies and philosophy concerning the role and meaning of reading might inform one another.

Structure and format

After a brief 5 minute introduction by the presider (Robert Lucas Scott) who will provide an overview of the key themes of the discussion and introduce the panelists, we will have 45 minutes of presentations on the philosophy of reading and reading as philosophy (14 minutes each, with 1 minute for transitions).

First, Andrea Gadberry will examine the relationship between rationalist philosophy and reading, focusing on how Leibniz’s theories of causality and monads might inform modes of literary interpretation. Drawing upon Althusser’s concept of “symptomatic reading”, Gadberry will explore how Leibniz’s rationalist fictions provide models for reading fiction—and, in some cases, for reading philosophy itself. The talk will consider early modern debates on causality and the picaresque (Grimmelshausen), before looking to one “fairy land” (Grimm) to read another: Leibniz.

Next, Nathan Brown will examine the tension between concepts of the tragic and representations of tragedy. Is the somatic and affective experience of catharsis theorised by Aristotle refractory to concepts of the tragic developed in German Idealism? Addressing the specifically readerly experience of catharsis evoked by the modern form of the tragic novel— exemplified by Charlotte Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved—the talk will ask how histories of colonialism, slavery, and race are inscribed in narrative discourse, and how these inscriptions evade not only philosophical conceptualisation but also what Paul de Man theorised as aesthetic ideology.

Finally, Louis Klee will consider how phenomenological approaches to reading inform translation theory, focusing on Walter Benjamin’s notion of “experience” and its implications for our understanding of reading. By examining Benjamin’s ambivalent stance towards the reader’s role in aesthetic experience, Klee will propose a new interpretation of Benjamin’s philosophy of reading that bridges contemporary debates around phenomenology, translation, and reading as a kind of translation.

The presentations will be followed by 5-10 minutes of moderated discussion. The presider will draw some points of connection and contention between the speakers’ arguments and give them the opportunity to very briefly respond to each other. We will then conclude with 15-20 minutes of open discussion, allowing attendees to ask questions and contribute to the conversation.

Diversity statement

This panel seeks to bridge debates across multiple disciplines, including philosophy, literary studies, and intellectual history; and to include perspectives from different historical periods, literary genres, and cultural contexts. In particular, the inclusion of works by women and postcolonial authors (such as Jean Rhys and Toni Morrison) reflects our conviction that the discussion of these topics would be inadequate without being attuned to issues of race, gender, and coloniality.