Poetry as Philosophy

Abstract

In this paper I discuss the idea that one can do philosophy through poetry and try to give meaning to the notion “philosophical poetry”. I argue that there are basically two ways of understanding this notion: 1) as an exemplification, i.e., poetry can serve as a philosophical example in different ways; and 2) as the articulation of a philosophical theory. Here I discuss the idea that one can get a kind of sui generis knowledge through poetry and also that poetry can justify alleged philosophical truths. I reject these two ideas and with them, the thesis that one can articulate a philosophical theory through poetry. However, I admit that there is nothing intrinsic to poetry that prevents it from doing so, but in general, this does not happen