A1 Journal article (refereed)
Strange Tools and Dark Materials : Speculating Beyond Narratives with Philosophical Instruments (2022)


Varis, E. (2022). Strange Tools and Dark Materials : Speculating Beyond Narratives with Philosophical Instruments. Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas, 20(2), 253-276. https://doi.org/10.1353/pan.2022.0015


JYU authors or editors


Publication details

All authors or editors: Varis, Essi

Journal or series: Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas

ISSN: 1565-3668

eISSN: 1936-9247

Publication year: 2022

Volume: 20

Issue number: 2

Pages range: 253-276

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/pan.2022.0015

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access: 

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/84199


Abstract

Although Alva Noë’s Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature (2015) makes no direct reference to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (1995–2000), these otherwise dissimilar works share an astonishingly similar and current view of the mind: both Noë and Pullman construe cognition as embodied action that extends and reflects on its own possibilities through various instruments and technologies. For Noë, the key technology aiding this reaching of the mind is art; making and engaging with art is a self-reflexive endeavor that makes our activities available for closer examination and evaluation. By extension, works of speculative fiction could be read as illustrations of or investigations into speculative, imaginative cognition.

In case of Pullman’s trilogy, this is certainly true as it incorporates several explicit commentaries on John Keats’ notion of negative capability, which is closely linked to imagination and creative cognition. Moreover, Pullman illustrates his characters’ negative capabilities through very particular ”strange tools”: the Golden Compass, the Subtle Knife, and the Amber Spyglass. These imaginary instruments serve the dual purpose of, first, modifying affordances, i.e. the ways the characters can respond to their changing situations, and second, making these speculative cognitive processes more visible to the readers.

Ultimately, the analysis of the trilogy suggests that skillful speculation entails at least two subskills: first, the ability to see as full a range of actionable possibilities as possible and, second, the ability to choose and act on the most suitable one. In the 4E framework, which views the mind as embodied, extended and action-oriented, speculation and imagination could thus be defined as especially extensive and flexible use of affordances. As such, speculation is something that always oveflows the limits of narrative. Like other forms of art, narrative is merely a tool for modifying and highlighting the affordances at its disposal.


Keywords: speculative fiction; fictional characters; technology; instruments (non-musical); narration; speculation (philosophy); imagination; creativity; art; cognition; metacognition; reflection (cognitive processes); literary research; philosophy of art

Free keywords: Noë, Alva; Pullman, Philip; His Dark Materials


Contributing organizations


Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2022

JUFO rating: 3


Last updated on 2024-30-04 at 20:05