The literature of philosophy Philosophical poems A number of poets have written poems on philosophical themes, and some important philosophers have expressed their philosophy in verse. The cosmogony of Hesiod and the De Rerum Natura of Lucretius are important philosophical poems. The genre of epic poetry was also used to teach philosophy. Vyasa narrated the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata in order to teach Indian philosophy and Hindu philosophy. Homer also presented some philosophical teachings in his Odyssey. Many of the Eastern philosophers worked out their thought in poetical fashion. Some of the important names include: Vyasa Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi Omar Khayyám Nizami Ganjavi Sheikh Saadi Hafiz Shirazi Muhammad Iqbal Matsuo Bashō Farid ud-Din Attar Notable Western philosophical poets include: St. John of the Cross T. S. Eliot Hildegard von Bingen Homer Percy Bysshe Shelley James Wright Marianne Moore Pablo Neruda William Carlos Williams Mary Oliver Leslie Marmon Silko Robert Creeley Fernando Pessoa Søren Kierkegaard Friedrich Nietzsche Philosophical fiction Some philosophers have undertaken to write philosophy in the form of fiction, including novels and short stories (see separate article on philosophical fiction). This is apparent early on in the literature of philosophy, where philosophers such as Plato wrote dialogues in which fictional or fictionalized characters discuss philosophical subjects; Socrates frequently appears as a protagonist in Platos dialogues, and the dialogues are one of the prime sources of knowledge about Socrates teaching, though at this remove it is sometimes hard to distinguish Socrates actual positions from Platos own. Numerous early Christian writers, including Augustine, Boethius, and Peter Abelard produced dialogues; several early modern philosophers, such as George Berkeley and David Hume, wrote occasionally in this genre. Other philosophers have resorted to narrative to get their teachings across. The classical 12th century Islamic philosopher, Abubacer (Ibn Tufail), wrote a fictional Arabic narrative Philosophus Autodidactus as a response to al-Ghazalis The Incoherence of the Philosophers, and then the 13th century Islamic theologian- philosopher Ibn al-Nafis also wrote a fictional narrative Theologus Autodidactus as a response to Abubacers Philosophus Autodidactus. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche often articulated his ideas in literary modes, most notably in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a re-imagined account of the teachings of Zoroaster. Marquis de Sade and Ayn Rand wrote novels in which characters served as mouthpieces for philosophical positions, and act in accordance with them in the plot. George Santayana was also a philosopher who wrote novels and poetry; the relationship between Santayanas characters and his beliefs is more complex. The existentialists include among their numbers important French authors who used fiction to convey their philosophical views; these include Jean- Paul Sartres novel Nausea and play No Exit, and Albert Camuss The Stranger. Maurice Blanchots entire fictional production, whose titles include The Step Not Beyond, The madness of the Day, and The Writing of Disaster, among others, constitutes an indispensable corpus for the treatment of the relationship between philosophy and literature. So does Jacques Derridas The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond. A number of philosophers have had important influence on literature. Arthur Schopenhauer, largely as a result of his system of aesthetics, is perhaps the most influential recent philosopher in the history of literature; Thomas Hardys later novels frequently allude to Schopenhauerian themes, particularly in Jude the Obscure. Schopenhauer also had an important influence on Joseph Conrad. Schopenhauer also had a less specific but more widely diffused influence on the Symbolist movement in European literature. Lionel Johnson also refers to Schopenhauers aesthetics in his essay The Cultured Faun. Jacques Derridas entire oeuvre has been hugely influential for so-called continental philosophy and the understanding of the role of literature in modernity. Other works of fiction considered to have philosophical content include: Abubacer, Philosophus Autodidactus Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment Jostein Gaarder, Sophies World James Joyce, Ulysses Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being Ibn al-Nafis, Theologus Autodidactus Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues William Shakespeare, Hamlet Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich Sergio Troncoso, The Nature of Truth
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 11:19:31 +0000
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