“Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.” – Novalis
With the aim of characterizing certain themes in contemporary philosophy, we will examine the role of poetry and myth in the writings of Plato and Nietzsche. We will explore how philosophy emerged from Greek myth and in the process kept some of its older religious heritage, then modified it, and finally exchanged that poetic discourse for an analytic one. Our readings are divided between a consideration of philosophy’s ancient origins and how those embedded concerns and methods have resurfaced in our contemporary era. After considering how Plato set the dichotomy of poetry/myth and philosophy, we will explore the “buried” presence of the poetic in his dialogues and in philosophy’s contemporary expression. While the readings focus on Plato, intense study of Nietzsche and contemporary philosophical interpretations of Plato’s conception of philosophy are designed to explore the hidden poetic in current philosophy and responses to the tensions thereby invoked.
