Henry J Staten - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Henry J Staten

I work across philosophy and literary criticism, with my intellectual roots in Aristotle, Darwin, later Wittgenstein, and early Derrida, on one side, and in Russian Formalism, New Criticism, and, again, early Derrida on the other. My earlier work ranges from Homer and Plato to John Henry Newman, the Victorian novel, Nietzsche, James Joyce, and the theory of ethnic identity. Recently I've been developing an entirely new approach to art theory, based in Aristotle, Wittgenstein and developments in "the new cognitive science," (Andy Clark, Alva Noe, et al)--an approach I call "techne theory." I'm also trying to publicize the work of the neuroscientist-philosopher Terrence Deacon.

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Papers by Henry J Staten

Research paper thumbnail of Eros in Mourning

Johns Hopkins University Press eBooks, 1994

Research paper thumbnail of Cavell vs. Wittgenstein on the Body-Mind Problem

New Literary History, Jun 1, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Situated Subjects (Langston Hughes, “Lenox Avenue: Midnight” and “Song for a Black Girl”)

Routledge eBooks, Apr 17, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Spirit Becomes Matter: The Brontes, George Eliot, Nietzsche

Research paper thumbnail of The Problem of Nietzsche's Economy Reality shows us an enchanting wealth of types, the abundance of a lavish play and change offorms-and some wretched loafer of a moralist comments: "No! Man ought to be different." He even knows what man should be like, this wretched bigot and prig: he paints him...

Research paper thumbnail of Dynamic Encoding in a Simple Autogenic System

Biosemiotics, 2022

How did molecules become signs? First, according to Deacon, there had to be an interpreter, a phy... more How did molecules become signs? First, according to Deacon, there had to be an interpreter, a physical process capable of making use of some property of a molecule that offered a "semiotic affordance." He proposes the model of an "autogenic virus," the most primitive conceivable recursively self-maintaining kind of molecular system that could broach the boundary between physico-chemical process and "interpretive competence." In this comment I work up to the question of how Deacon introduces concepts such as "representation" and "record" into his account, to argue that the autogen can pass on its lineage without a genetic template.

Research paper thumbnail of The Poetry of Ellipsis (Denise Riley, “A Nueva York”)

Routledge eBooks, Apr 17, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Is the Author Still Dead?

Research paper thumbnail of Poetic commentary (Shakespeare, Sonnet 116)

Research paper thumbnail of Empirical, Transcendental, Ultratranscendental

Research paper thumbnail of Techne Theory: A New Language for Art

Research paper thumbnail of Modernist poetry and discursive logic (T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”)

Routledge eBooks, Apr 17, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of The wrong turn of aesthetics

Research paper thumbnail of Nietzsche's voice

Research paper thumbnail of Bearing the Dead: The British Culture of Mourning from the Enlightenment to Victoria

Modern Language Review, Apr 1, 1997

Research paper thumbnail of Intellectual and Cultural Context (John Milton, “At a Solemn Music”)

Routledge eBooks, Apr 17, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy

Modern Language Review, Jul 1, 1993

Research paper thumbnail of Nietzsche: Naturalism and Interpretation (review)

Modernism/modernity, 2000

Research paper thumbnail of The Craft of Poetry: Dialogues on Minimal Interpretation

Acknowledgments Introduction: Dialogical poetics Chapter 1: Minimal interpretation Chapter 2: Fig... more Acknowledgments Introduction: Dialogical poetics Chapter 1: Minimal interpretation Chapter 2: Figurative language Chapter 3: Historical context Chapter 4: Intellectual and cultural context Chapter 5: Situated subjects Chapter 6: Poetic commentary Chapter 7: Modernist poetry and discursive logic Chapter 8: The poetry of ellipsis Chapter 9: Translation Index

Research paper thumbnail of The Craft of Poetry

This book presents an innovative format for poetry criticism that its authors call "dialogical po... more This book presents an innovative format for poetry criticism that its authors call "dialogical poetics." This approach shows that readings of poems, which in academic literary criticism often look like a product of settled knowledge, are in reality a continual negotiation between readers. Here, Derek Attridge and Henry Staten agree to rein in their own interpretive ingenuity and "minimally interpret" poemsreading them with careful regard for what the poem can be shown to actually say, in detail and as a whole, from opening to closure. Based on a series of e-mails, the book explores a number of topics in the reading of poetry, including historical and intellectual context, modernist difficulty, the role of criticism, and translation. This highly readable book will appeal to anyone who enjoys poetry, offering an inspiring resource for students whilst also mounting a challenge to some of the approaches to poetry currently widespread in the academy.

Research paper thumbnail of Eros in Mourning

Johns Hopkins University Press eBooks, 1994

Research paper thumbnail of Cavell vs. Wittgenstein on the Body-Mind Problem

New Literary History, Jun 1, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Situated Subjects (Langston Hughes, “Lenox Avenue: Midnight” and “Song for a Black Girl”)

Routledge eBooks, Apr 17, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Spirit Becomes Matter: The Brontes, George Eliot, Nietzsche

Research paper thumbnail of The Problem of Nietzsche's Economy Reality shows us an enchanting wealth of types, the abundance of a lavish play and change offorms-and some wretched loafer of a moralist comments: "No! Man ought to be different." He even knows what man should be like, this wretched bigot and prig: he paints him...

Research paper thumbnail of Dynamic Encoding in a Simple Autogenic System

Biosemiotics, 2022

How did molecules become signs? First, according to Deacon, there had to be an interpreter, a phy... more How did molecules become signs? First, according to Deacon, there had to be an interpreter, a physical process capable of making use of some property of a molecule that offered a "semiotic affordance." He proposes the model of an "autogenic virus," the most primitive conceivable recursively self-maintaining kind of molecular system that could broach the boundary between physico-chemical process and "interpretive competence." In this comment I work up to the question of how Deacon introduces concepts such as "representation" and "record" into his account, to argue that the autogen can pass on its lineage without a genetic template.

Research paper thumbnail of The Poetry of Ellipsis (Denise Riley, “A Nueva York”)

Routledge eBooks, Apr 17, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Is the Author Still Dead?

Research paper thumbnail of Poetic commentary (Shakespeare, Sonnet 116)

Research paper thumbnail of Empirical, Transcendental, Ultratranscendental

Research paper thumbnail of Techne Theory: A New Language for Art

Research paper thumbnail of Modernist poetry and discursive logic (T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”)

Routledge eBooks, Apr 17, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of The wrong turn of aesthetics

Research paper thumbnail of Nietzsche's voice

Research paper thumbnail of Bearing the Dead: The British Culture of Mourning from the Enlightenment to Victoria

Modern Language Review, Apr 1, 1997

Research paper thumbnail of Intellectual and Cultural Context (John Milton, “At a Solemn Music”)

Routledge eBooks, Apr 17, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy

Modern Language Review, Jul 1, 1993

Research paper thumbnail of Nietzsche: Naturalism and Interpretation (review)

Modernism/modernity, 2000

Research paper thumbnail of The Craft of Poetry: Dialogues on Minimal Interpretation

Acknowledgments Introduction: Dialogical poetics Chapter 1: Minimal interpretation Chapter 2: Fig... more Acknowledgments Introduction: Dialogical poetics Chapter 1: Minimal interpretation Chapter 2: Figurative language Chapter 3: Historical context Chapter 4: Intellectual and cultural context Chapter 5: Situated subjects Chapter 6: Poetic commentary Chapter 7: Modernist poetry and discursive logic Chapter 8: The poetry of ellipsis Chapter 9: Translation Index

Research paper thumbnail of The Craft of Poetry

This book presents an innovative format for poetry criticism that its authors call "dialogical po... more This book presents an innovative format for poetry criticism that its authors call "dialogical poetics." This approach shows that readings of poems, which in academic literary criticism often look like a product of settled knowledge, are in reality a continual negotiation between readers. Here, Derek Attridge and Henry Staten agree to rein in their own interpretive ingenuity and "minimally interpret" poemsreading them with careful regard for what the poem can be shown to actually say, in detail and as a whole, from opening to closure. Based on a series of e-mails, the book explores a number of topics in the reading of poetry, including historical and intellectual context, modernist difficulty, the role of criticism, and translation. This highly readable book will appeal to anyone who enjoys poetry, offering an inspiring resource for students whilst also mounting a challenge to some of the approaches to poetry currently widespread in the academy.

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