Perspective, Affectivity, and Existential Meaning: On the Cognitive Value of Love and the Novel

Authors

  • Ingrid Vendrell Ferran University of Marburg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59123/1nfd3k25

Keywords:

perspective, affectivity, existential meaning, transformative experience, cognitive value, aesthetic cognitivism

Abstract

In Love, Subjectivity, and Truth (Oxford, 2023), Rick Anthony Furtak draws on his previous work on emotions, literature, and existential thought to offer a particular reading of Proust. For Furtak, In Search of Lost Time not only conveys and analyzes experiences that enable the reader to explore existential issues but also does "something like phenomenology" (x). In his view, Proust explores the search for truth about love and subjectivity using phenomenological descriptions. In this review, I will focus on what I regard as an important contribution of Furtak's book: the development of a rich and nuanced notion of perspective. 

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References

Burri, Alex. 2007. “Art and the View from Nowhere.” In A Sense of the World: Essays on Fiction, Narrative, and Knowl¬edge, edited John Gibson, Wolfgang Huemer, and Luca Pocci, 308–317. New York: Routledge.

Furtak, Rick Anthony. 2018. Knowing Emotions: Truthfulness and Recognition in Affective Experience. New York: Oxford University Press.

Furtak, Rich Anthony. 2023. Love, Subjectivity, and Truth: Existential Themes in Proust. New York: Oxford University Press.

Huemer, Wolfgang. 2022. “Fictional Narrative and the Other’s Perspective.” Croatian Journal of Philosophy 22, no. 65: 161–179.

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Nagel, Thomas. 1986. The View from Nowhere. New York: Oxford University Press.

Scheler, Max. 1973a. “Ordo amoris.” In Selected Philosophical Essays. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy.

Scheler, Max. 1973b. Formalism in Ethics and Non-formal Ethics of Values. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy.

Vendrell Ferran, Íngrid. 2023. “On the Transformative Power of Literary Perspectives.” Journal of Aesthetic Education 57, no. 3: 12–30.

Vidmar Jovanović, Iris. 2023. “Perspectivism, Cognitivism, and the Ethical Evaluation of Art.” Journal of Aesthetic Education 57, no. 3: 31–48.

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Published

2026-09-08

Issue

Section

Symposium: Love, Subjectivity, and Truth: Existential Themes in Proust by Rick Anthony Furtak

How to Cite

Vendrell Ferran, I. (2026) “Perspective, Affectivity, and Existential Meaning: On the Cognitive Value of Love and the Novel”, Passion: Journal of the European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotions, 4(2), pp. 151–155. doi:10.59123/1nfd3k25.