The problem of studying belletristic literature (humanities epistemology)

The article analyzes the main flaw of modern education in the study of belletristic literature associated with the understanding of imitative nature of literature. The tradition of teaching the humanities is based on the ancient view on the concept of mimesis, which in the sequel lost its Aristotelian creativity. Humanities are apprehended mainly as an instrument of cognition or reflection of the problems of the reality. At the same time, it is forgotten that the word not only reflects the world, but discovers the specificity of human existence. The article discusses some aspects of the newly emerging scientific discipline, called humanitarian epistemology, which allows comprehending the humanitarian knowledge, in particular knowledge of literature, dialogically, according to certain provisions of Bakhtin’s theory. As a result, the study of literature should be an effective form of comprehension of historical life.