Question Can poetry be used to express deeply philosophical ideas?

Accepted:
May 15, 2008

Comments

Poetry can certainly be used to express profound ideas and attitudes concerning (for want of a better expression) 'the human condition'. These ideas can affect the reader's soul in a powerful way, helped along by the captivating power of the medium itself. And examples of poetry that might be regarded as 'philosophical' in this sense are innumerable. Indeed, one might make a case for claiming that it's the norm rather than the exception, and that this is the primary aspiration of most of the greatest poetry in history, from Homer to Dante to Sylvia Plath.

But does this really count as philosophy? For some people, this is precisely what the best and most important kind of philosophy consists in. For others, however, and particularly within English-speaking academia, philosophy is more a matter of highly technical and abstract theories about the structure of reality, the nature of cognition, and things of that sort. And yet, as it turns out, those kinds of theories have been explored in verse form too. One might compare this with the way in which philosophers from Plato to Berkeley to David Lewis have opted to present their ideas and arguments in the form of witty dialogues. Either approach brings, among other potential advantages, that of simply engaging the reader more effectively than yet another dry prose treatise might.

For an example, consider Lucretius's De Rerum Natura, an epic poem in six books from the first century BC. Lucretius set out and argued for, among other things: an atomistic physics, a plurality of worlds and extraterrestrial life, a theory of natural selection, a materialist account of the mind, a vigorous critique of religion, an account of the origins of human society out of a state of nature, a study of meteorology, and, believe it or not, a discussion of sexual positions. And all in Latin verse. Admittedly, that was then and this is now. Professional philosophers and scientists tend not to express themselves in verse any more -- I can't think of any recent examples (though perhaps others might). But, even into the early modern period, they were still doing so. See, for instance, the book-length philosophical poems, Nosce Teipsum by Sir John Davies (1599) or Psychodia Platonica by Henry More (1642). Some of the scansion and rhyme might have been a bit dodgy, but these authors did nevertheless feel that verse was an appropriate medium for the expression of serious metaphysical and epistemological theories and arguments. There's certainly no incompatibility between the poetic medium and even the most technical kind of philosophy.

Question Can poetry be used to express deeply philosophical ideas? Accepted:May 15, 2008

Question Can poetry be used to express deeply philosophical ideas?

Accepted:
May 15, 2008