ABSTRACT
In the philosophy of mind, a radical opposition to Cartesian dualism appeared in the form of behaviorism, a tendency inspired by the works of Wittgenstein and Ryle. Behaviorists maintained that psychology should talk about mental states in terms of observable behavior. The transition from the everyday, sensual, symbolic and figurative to full-blown contemporary aesthetics marks also an emergence of a new structure. The relationship between the type of interpretation involved in competent appreciation of art, as studied by analytic philosophy and art, and the one more associated with continental philosophy involving psychoanalysis, Marxism, Feminism, semiotics, etc. One of the most vocal representatives of neopositivist reductionism in literary studies are perhaps the literary Darwinists. Reductionist explanations tend to overlook the importance of the hierarchy of explanation and focus excessively on one level. Naturalist reductionism can mean ignoring the cultural and historical importance of the object in question.
