ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the need to include literary works, specifically the novel, in philosophical inquiry. Jean-Paul Sartre's The Age of Reason tells the story of the intertwining lives of several people. Mathieu, a philosophy professor, serves as a primary connection between all the other characters. Mathieu is able to ponder the possibility of a radical conversion, a change in his fundamental choice of self, and is ultimately unable to undertake an act of conversion, because he still demands such an act be accompanied by justification. The style of the novel functions to promote, in a wide audience, reflective thoughtfulness on, and engagement in, the text, and a sense of responsibility in the reader for the meaning attributed to the text. Accordingly, a new "age of reason" is being demanded, one which begins where the search for rational justification ends, and one which embraces a more inclusive approach to philosophical inquiry.
