The research group on Suffering and Meliorism in Literature and the Philosophy of Literature within the Centre of Excellence on Meliorist Philosophy of Suffering (MePhiS) focuses on literary studies and the philosophy of literature as routes to meliorist philosophy of suffering.
We take seriously the idea that literature can articulate philosophical issues and influence people’s ways of experiencing, expressing, and managing suffering. The research group will critically examine diverging concepts of meliorism by exploring writers with links to optimism, pessimism, and/or meliorism, and analysing literature reflecting societal anxieties and human or non-human suffering caused by wars, violence, poverty, marginalisation, the climate crisis, etc. We will also consider how philosophers employ literature in reflecting on ethical stances to suffering.