Ways of Discourse and Ways of Life

Metaphilosophy 51 (2-3):318-334 (2020)
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Abstract

In book X of the Republic, Plato famously reports “a quarrel between poetry and philosophy.” The present essay examines this quarrel in book X, along with other relevant parts of the Republic, by understanding “philosophy” and “poetry” as rival ways of life and rival ways of discourse. The essay first explains why, in Plato’s view, poetic discourse weakens one’s power to reason and is at odds with philosophic discourse. Then it shows how poetic discourse is bound up with a way of life that champions the value of freedom. Such a life forms a contrast with the philosophic life, which is marked more by stability and unity than by freedom. The quarrel, however, is not a simple antagonism. The essay hence concludes by discussing why, despite the opposition between the two, philosophy cannot do without poetry.

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2020-04-28

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I-Kai Jeng
National Taiwan University

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References found in this work

The Aesthetics of Mimesis: Ancient Texts and Modern Problems.Stephen Halliwell - 2002 - Princeton, USA: Princeton University Press.
Plato's Greatest Accusation against Poetry.Elizabeth Belfiore - 1983 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 13 (sup1):39-62.
The ideas and the criticism of poetry in Plato's.Charles L. Griswold - 1981 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 19 (2):135-150.
15. The Republic's Two Critiques of Poetry.Stephen Halliwell - 2005 - In Otfried Höffe (ed.), Platon, Politeia. Akademie Verlag. pp. 313-332.

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