Knowledge and Its Impact on Contextual Literary Criticism Approaches

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between knowledge and contextual critical approaches in literary criticism, highlighting the central role of epistemology in guiding the humanities in general and literary criticism in particular. It also introduces the concept of epistemology, its philosophical origins, and its connection to the term “epistemology” as a discipline. The paper demonstrates how literary criticism has benefited from various fields of human knowledge—such as history, sociology, and psychology—in the construction of its methodologies and the analysis of literary texts. Furthermore, it argues that the incorporation of these disciplines has contributed to a deeper understanding of texts and to situating them within their cultural and social contexts. The study concludes that knowledge constitutes the methodological foundation that grants literary criticism its scientific depth and its capacity to interpret and evaluate literary phenomena.