Philosophy and Literature

Overview

Bringing together eight previously published essays by M. W. Rowe and a substantial new study of Larkin, this book emphasizes the profound affinities between philosophy and literature.

Range of Topics

Ranging over Plato, Shakespeare, Goethe, Arnold and Wittgenstein, the first five essays explore an anti-theoretical conception of philosophy. This sees the subject as less concerned with abstract arguments that result in theories, than with prompts intended to induce clarity of vision and psychical harmony. On this understanding, philosophy looks more like literature than logic.

Contrasting Perspectives

Conversely, the last four essays argue that literature is centrally concerned with truth and abstract thought, and that literature is therefore a more cognitive and philosophical enterprise than is commonly supposed.