37.514, Reviews: Literature and Art as Cognitive Objects: Patricia Kolaiti (2025)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-514. Sat Feb 07 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.514, Reviews: Literature and Art as Cognitive Objects: Patricia Kolaiti (2025)

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Date: 07-Feb-2026
From: Selin Engin [sengin at uni-bremen.de]
Subject: Patricia Kolaiti (2025)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/36-2834

Title: Literature and Art as Cognitive Objects
Subtitle: From a Poetics of Language to a Poetics of Action
Publication Year: 2025

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
           http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics
Book URL:
https://www.cambridge.org/ch/universitypress/subjects/languages-linguistics/stylistics/literature-and-art-cognitive-objects-poetics-language-poetics-action?format=HB

Author(s): Patricia Kolaiti

Reviewer: Selin Engin

SUMMARY
Published in 2025, Patricia Kolaiti’s second book, “Literature and Art
as Cognitive Objects: From a Poetics of Language to a Poetics of
Actions,” aims to transmit a multidisciplinary approach to
contemporary criticisms of literature and arts. Kolaiti’s work aims to
pave the way for further research in the study of literature and art
to conjunct with cognitive sciences and explore the possibility of
merging cognitive theories with literary and artworks as objects,
perhaps leading to discovering in them the traces of human cognition.
In the Introduction of the book, Kolaiti refers to several studies
that had been conducted in the past and explains both how her study
stands out amongst them as a novel approach in the field. In aims to
construct a solid base for her theory, Kolaiti presents the dilemma of
‘literature and art as a cognitive object” through the example of
Duchamp’s “Fountain” (Kolaiti 3). Her analysis of the subject matter
utilizes Chomskian ‘cognitive perspective,’ and further in the book,
she also refers back to Chomsky’s view of language as a biological
object. She also argues that the study of literature and art as
cognitive objects must be treated as an interdisciplinary matter where
epistemological and empirically testable models can be discussed.
Finally, Kolaiti calls for universities, publishers and peer reviewers
to take into consideration the involvement of literature and art with
scientific research and to take action in discussing a two-way
interdisciplinary research initiative.
In Chapter 1, titled “A Theory of BLIBS”, the author opens with a
discussion of what separates a “ready-made” object from an artwork and
makes use of an allegory of a “Gallery” to convey her arguments. The
gallery, namely “The Gallery of Indiscernibles,” is a space named by
Danto (1981), and it lays the ground for the ‘artefactual view of
literature and art’. Kolaiti diverts the reader’s lens into
acknowledging the ontological corporeality of objects as artworks and
recognizing the ‘action-processes’ behind the creation of these
‘artworks’. She argues that the action process of human cognition
while creating artworks/ literary texts remains terminologically
unlabelled and posits this as an interdisciplinary problem. She
criticizes the conventional categorization of objects and begins to
construct her own terminology to elaborate on her arguments. Namely,
BLIBS and BLOBS are objects that share a common ontological history,
not only as objects in literature and art, but also as ‘crafted
objects’. Kolaiti categorizes them as indiscernibles in the
allegorical gallery that she has built.  Lastly, Kolaiti ties the
theoretical background of her argument to  Chomsky’s ‘table’ metaphor
and refers to linguistic essentialism.
In Chapter 2, titled “What Sort of Concept of Literature and Art Is
Not”, Kolaiti presents a comparative analysis of the forthcoming
theories and schools of thought that she later compares to her own
arguments. The author begins by explaining the ontological aspect of
literature and art. First, she discusses the definition of artworks
and literary works as “Conventional” (Prototypical) objects. According
to this definition, literature and artworks are conventionally
categorized according to  their prototypical features, and certain
patterns that are recognized conventionally in history. These features
are traditionally classified and singled out as what their specific
attributions suggest. Kolaiti opposes this classification by stating
that literature and art cannot be defined as conventional because
conventionality is inherently challenged by artistic innovation.
Moving onto the formation of “canons”, the author gives a brief
history of early twentieth century art criticism, particularly
formalism and structuralism. According to the assumption, literature
and art is regarded as categorized based on their formal objectivity.
However, the author argues against the notion of formality and further
claims that artworks cannot exist as “medium specific objects”, which
are, by the author’s definition, objects that are given value only
through their formality . Later on, she compares and contrasts the
views of several scholars on what makes an object an artwork, in which
she highly opposes the conventional views. Among the scholars
mentioned in this chapter, Kolaiti picks out the points of view that
would support her argument of art as a creator-oriented and cognitive
set of actions that must be regarded as an action-process rather than
an “object” of institutional significance.
In Chapter 3, “Literature and Art as an Action”, the author moves from
looking at artefacts to action processes and begins to focus on the
artist. In her words, “literary-theoric and art-philosophical” aspects
are in the foreground. The author delves into the metaphor of “seeing”
the objects through the lens of an artist. She claims that the artist
“sees” the objects of art and literature not by their formal
properties but through her mental imagery, that is, what the author
calls “aspectual representations”. The chapter focuses on the lens of
the artist and how artists process the world around them. While
building up the theoretical background of her views, the author often
disrupts the text by referring to upcoming chapters; this interrupts
the narration. Further into the chapter, the author introduces the
notion of agency in the artistic creation process and connects
artistic abilities to the cognitive functions of an individual during
the processes/actions of making art and literature.
In Chapter 4, the author restates her main arguments. By referring to
the previous chapters, Kolaiti grounds her points in the
aforementioned theories, terms and discussions. The main arguments on
the cognitive aspect of art as an action are woven into a plethora of
examples of artworks and artists, which were analysed in depth
previously. Through the references to the studies of Sperber and
Wilson, Chomsky and Fodor, the author defends her aim of placing the
artist at the center of literary and art criticism. It is further
argued that literature and art should be studied as a universal
cognitive mechanism, inspired by Chomsky’s defense of cognitive
perspectives in linguistics (Kolaiti 105). The role of literature and
art, the artwork and the artist are balanced out on a scale of
ontological and epistemological scope, through which the author
advances the claim that in this equation, the cognitive ontology of
the artist is the principal element. Lastly, the author positions the
cognitive study of literature and art as a way of understanding this
distinct output of human action and its significance in understanding
the human mind.
In Chapter 5 titled “How to Solve the Ontological Puzzles”, the author
states her established arguments again, and begins to delve into the
ways “the artwork” distinguishes itself from ‘forgeries’ of it. To do
so, the author sets out sub-discussions through multiple comparisons.
The ready-made object is differentiated from the artistic object
through the statement that the latter possesses a cognitive history,
produced and implemented in the artist’s mind by causal relations to
artistic thought states; this is  the distinction between the original
artwork and its forgery. The difference between art and crafts is also
determined to be in their cognitive history. The question of ‘arthood’
is analysed through comparison with a special category, the artworks
of neuro-divergent people, thus suggesting a new cognitively-oriented
research topic.
Chapter 6 titled “Literature, Art and Relevance”, starts off with an
approach to literature and art as intra-individual and
inter-individual occurrences and compares this perspective to
cognitive and evolutionary conundrums. In evolutionary terms, the role
of the individual artistic thought-process is to lead to a shared
thought process between more than one individual. The question of how
artworks reach a shared representation through cultural transmission
is discussed with references to the author’s own definitions. Artistic
thought processes are presented as operating according to the
‘cognitive principle of relevance’, meaning that cognition involves
the selection of what is most relevant. This, in turn, supports the
hypothesis that such processes have a place within both evolutionary
and cognitive frameworks. The author refers to the studies of Sperber
and Wilson on relevance theory to further support her arguments.
According to Kolaiti, “...Artistic thought states/processes are
stimuli. [...] artworks and literary texts attract and merit the
attention of human agents.” (157). The visual stimulus and its
neurological effects is discussed through the analysis of Ramachandran
and Hirstein’s 1999 study titled ‘The Science of Art’, where artistic
experience is described and grouped into categories. Lastly, Kolaiti
suggests future research topics, bringing cognitive science and
literary/artworks together.
Chapter 7 discovers the notion of creativity in the artistic thought
state/processes, by bringing out its effects in psychology and
neuroscience. The difference between production and creation are
elaborated with “mere or creative” productions. The decisive factors
in their triviality or non-triviality are explained. Noam Chomsky’s
“Syntactic Structures” and its contributions to the study of the human
mind through linguistics are referred to in multiple subsequent
subchapters in order to provide a bridge between Chomsky’s and
Kolaiti’s theories. Kolaiti states that the aim of bringing together
theories of creativity is to open the way for future research in
cognitive features of literature and art and returns to developing the
notion of “aspectual creativity” in her own terms. By referring to
Chapter 3, Kolaiti connects her arguments with the question of
creativity discussed in the referred studies. Creativity and its
stages are argued to be ‘creation’ processes, rather than creative
processes. The notions of ‘scientific creativity’ and ‘artistic
creativity’ are compared in terms of cognitive processes. Later, the
topic of ‘talent’ and ‘giftedness’ is sketched out with exemplary past
studies. Kolaiti ends the chapter with brief  references to the
previous chapters, focusing instead on suggesting further research
areas in the studies of talent, giftedness and creativity.
EVALUATION
Patricia Kolaiti’s “Literature and Art as Cognitive Objects: From a
Poetics of Language to a Poetics of Actions” proposes ways of
incorporating scientific investigation into the study of artistic
creation and offers a two-way interdisciplinary analysis of its
subject matter. Kolaiti’s attempt to merge literature and art
criticism through cognitive research opens the way for
multi-disciplinary research on the topic. The human mind and its
cognitive functions are to be explored through scientific exploration
of the way the artist’s mind functions, according to the author.
In the Introduction of the book, Kolaiti lays the groundwork of her
main argument. The terminology used in the book is explained
thoroughly, in order to prepare the reader for the following chapters.
The study draws on references from multiple disciplines, which are
discussed in a measured and comparative tone. Its aims and broader
implications are integrated into the discussion, while the theoretical
arguments are clarified through concrete examples.Kolaiti not only
presents her arguments, but also connects them to previous studies and
suggests a plethora of issues for future research. At the same time,
repetition  of the same terms and their explanations sometimes impedes
a thorough analysis of the mentioned texts.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Selin Engin is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in
English-Speaking Cultures: Language, Text, Media at the University of
Bremen, following a BA degree in English Language and Literature. Her
research interests include postmodern literature, literary criticism,
and cultural theory. She is particularly focused on the intersections
of cultural history, narratology and interdisciplinary genre studies
in contemporary and twentieth century literature.



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