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Abstract

This article proposes that the conception in literary theory now known under the name of Empirical Science of Literature should take up the name: Constructivist Science of Literature. The reason for this is, that the use of the term “empirical” diminishes the chances of the school to become a paradigm, because 1) according to the ontological use of “empirical” the Empirical Science of Literature is not an empirical science; 2) the (epistemological) use of the term “empirical” by the Empirical Science of Literature is irreconcilable with its (ontological) use by the potential legitimatizing community; and 3) the significance of the Empirical Science of Literature does not spring from its empirism, but from its constructivism.

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Towards the Constructivist Science of Literature (A New Paradigm?)

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