The Idea of 'Anti-Philosophy' in the Work of F. R. Leavis

This paper argues that Leavis made a significant contribution to the philosophy of language while declaring himself an 'anti-philosopher' ('which is what a literary critic ought to be'). The author tries to reconcile these positions by use of the coinage 'anti-philosophical philosophy', recognising an inherent strain in the issues themselves. Leavis's distinction as a literary critic (the greatest of modern times, it is argued) is bound up with his 'use' of a language to talk about its own possibilities: possibilities that are cognate with the 'creativity of perception' itself (his phrase), and with the nature of all knowing and being.