Stanisław Lem criticizes Roman Ingarden's theory of literature in his essay The Philosophy of Chance. Specifically, he takes issue with the idea that a literary work can be reduced to its ontological elements and analyzed as such without taking into account any aesthetic considerations or subjective interpretations by readers. He instead argues instead for an approach which recognizes the importance of chance and randomness in both creating meaning within texts and interpreting them on individual levels. To support this argument, Lem draws upon analogies from various natural sciences, including probability theory, information theory, computer science, etc., suggesting that each reader produces their own unique interpretation based on their worldview at the time they are reading it, something which cannot always be predicted or controlled by authors themselves due to external factors like cultural norms influencing how people perceive certain works differently over time (e.g., Kafka’s "In The Penal Colony"). In addition to this critique against Ingarden's reductive view towards literature analysis, Lem also emphasizes throughout his essay the need for recognizing unpredictable arbitrariness when analyzing particular texts, noting that some genres rely more heavily than others do on pre-set standards and expectations while other forms may have much greater potentiality for diverse readings depending largely upon one’s personal outlook and interpretation.
Systematic analysis of literature alone, Lem would suggest, is not enough; rather, to utterly understand its power, we must also account for the subjective nature inherent within it in order to appreciate how chance can play an equally influential role here too. Ultimately, in his essay, "The Philosophy of Chance," Lem criticizes Roman Ingarden's theory for neglecting the aesthetic and subjective elements integral to literature analysis in favor of a more reductive approach, instead emphasizing the need to embrace chance as an essential factor when attempting to work with or understand texts.
The aspects of Roman Ingarden's theory of literature that Stanisław Lem criticises are the idea that a literary work can be reduced to its ontological elements and analyzed as such without taking into account any aesthetic considerations or subjective interpretations by readers. He argues instead for an approach which recognizes the importance of chance and randomness in both creating meaning within texts and interpreting them on individual levels, drawing upon analogies from various natural sciences including probability theory, information theory, computer science etc., suggesting that each reader produces their own unique interpretation based on their worldview at the time they are reading it - something which cannot always be predicted or controlled by authors themselves due to external factors like cultural norms influencing how people perceive certain works differently over time (e.g Kafka’s "In The Penal Colony"). In addition to this critique against Ingarden's reductive view towards literature analysis, Lem also emphasizes throughout his essay the need for recognizing unpredictable arbitrariness when analyzing particular texts; noting that some genres rely more heavily than others do on pre-set standards and expectations while other forms may have much greater potentiality for diverse readings depending largely upon one’s personal outlook and interpretation.
References
- Das literarische Kunstwerk: Eine Untersuchung aus dem Grenzgebiet der Ontologie, Logik, und Literaturwissenschaft (German Edition ed.)
- The Philosophy of Chance: Literature in the Light of Empiricism (Polish Edition Ed.)
- Henryk Markiewicz, Stanisław Lem: Filozofia Przypadku (Polish Edition Ed.)
