Life of Pi by Yann Martel: The Use of Contradictions inan Experimental Novel on the Epistemological Status of Theistic Belief

Joanna Klara Teske

Joanna Klara Teske The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Humanities

Keywords: Life of Pi; Yann Martel; contradictions; belief; cognition

Abstract

The essay discusses Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, focusing on the novel’s use of contradictions to present the theme of the theistic, atheistic and agnostic beliefs. The novel seems to defend the thesis that theism is rational (on pragmatic rather than epistemic grounds), atheism in its choice of commitment resembles faith, whereas agnosticism can be identified with dogmatic materialism and a passive attitude towards life. To illustrate this view the novel engages the readers in an experiment, offering them two mutually exclusive versions of Pi’s survival story.

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