ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a possible science of literary criticism. The realist notion of scientificity, being based upon fundamental features of the human situation, thus presented with no problems concerning its application to the realm of social scientific inquiry. The ontology thus arrived at, the related notions of ontological complexity and depth, along with that of epistemological levels, in turn facilitated the clarification of notions of subjectivity, agency and structure. The realist understanding of science allows for conceptions of knowledge and objectivity as well as giving literature and art a special place for their own unique values. Humanity has learned some hard lessons concerning the dangers of knowledge, science and claims to truth. The creation and utilisation of the terrifying weaponry deriving from the technological application of the natural sciences is only the most dramatic manifestation of a very real and frightening tendency.
