Philosophy and Literature

In order to believe in something significant, human beings, since time immemorial, have embarked on a Sisyphean task to understand their existence.

Hence, while pragmatic philosophical inquiry uses obsolete methods of acquiring knowledge of existence, literature provides novel means to view and constitute reality and experience.

Philosophy raises some of the deepest and widest questions about human existence; and addressing the issues in each philosophical discipline creates an unending stream of ontological discussions that seem to dissatisfy a newer generation of knowledge-seekers. These discussions or discourse, moreover, creates a myriad of genres that some philosophical antiquarians believe could revive their former appeal among historical curiosities, which they once took seriously (i.e., Descartes’ piece of wax or Plato’s aviary). Philosophers, in this case, attempt to plot old methods of inquiry by combining various conceptual permutations until they find a likely fit to satisfy the curiosity of the common person and contemporary proponents of philosophy.

Consequently, these distinctions, some believe, “drive a wedge into texts by which readers no less than the writers attempt to gain leverage.” This means, any reader who attempts to interpret or comprehend a specific philosophical genre, whether historical, dialectical (i.e., Plato’s Republic), or biographical, is constrained by distance, reflexivity, culture, linguistic features, and author’s intent because the ability to comprehend text or various genres depends on many variables, including decoding ability, language comprehension, background knowledge, and knowledge of text structures (Lang,   ).

Can philosophy, then, be reduced to a literary genre?

Perhaps it would be prudent to re-hash the question because the question itself poses an irony in which the author seems to sound philosophical but not really. The author, whether he is a follower of the old school or not, reverses the philosophical ideology into a literal meaning. In order to unravel the reader’s innocence, moreover, the author introduces the philosophical agenda as literary genre, speech that is neither mythology, religion, literature, science of nature, nor human science. Literature’s role here is to appeal to the conscience in an “aphoric” manner without explicitly articulating the author’s own philosophical convictions.

Philosophy, in a broader sense, means, “love of wisdom”; and since we consider human beings to be insatiable creatures in search for answers about existence, literature provides a less abrasive platform into understanding human existence. Literature today focuses our attention on the fact that because there is a lack of fulfillment in our lives-- poems, novels, or metaphors fill our expectations because our own naiveté impedes our understanding of human existence.

Therefore, as a means to understand the dichotomy between philosophy and literature, we should instead ask, “Can philosophy be symbolized within various literary genres?”

Yes. Since there are different types of texts available, some readers intuitively acquire knowledge through exposure to them. Text structures or literary forms that contain the interrelation of ideas convey a message to the reader and determine the coherence of a supposed “hidden” message the writer wishes to propose. Literature, then, creates significant new experiences because a vast multitude of readers can participate and gain a greater awareness and understanding of their world. This is literature. Its objective is not only to aid living but in itself a means of living at present (Perrine & Arp, 1992).

Meanwhile, the existence of various literary genres today further suggests that these distinctions cannot accommodate philosophy in an explicit way, because the traditional features of philosophical genre are now almost obsolete; thus, any evidence of a philosophical artifact within a particular literary work would mean its indecipherability (Lang, ____).

In sum, reducing philosophy to a literary genre, need not to be a mere “reduction” but rather an overt symbolism that literature is more than happy to provide.

“Literature, then, exists to communicate significant experience—significant because it is concentrated and organized. Its function is not to tell us about experience but to allow us imaginatively to participate in it. It is a means of allowing us, through the imagination, to live more fully, more deeply, more richly, and with greater awareness.”

-- Laurence Perrine and Thomas Arp, 1992

Reference:

Dymock, Susan. 1999. Learning to Read: Beyond Phonics and Whole Language, 1999.

Lang, Berel. ____. The Plots and Acts of Philosophical Genre. The Anatomy of Philosophical Style: Literary Philosophy and the Philosophy of Literature, ___.

Perrine, Laurence and Arp, Thomas. 1992. Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry, 1992.

Philosophy and Literature from Wikipedia.com