Whitehead on literature and philosophy
Whitehead regards literature (and poetry in particular) as a source of philosophy. In this paper I want to explore that belief. In turning to literature as a context of philosophical reflection, I am also siding with him that philosophy can be enriched when it enters into dialogue with literature.
Whitehead manifests a closeness, even if rather implicit, not only with the rich European literary-philosophical tradition but also with certain concerns of contemporary European philosophy. There is an interesting passage which provides some insight into Whitehead’s understanding of the relationship between poetry and philosophy. In Modes of Thought, he writes: “Philosophy is akin to poetry. Philosophy is the endeavour to find a conventional phraseology for the vivid suggestiveness of the poet. It is the endeavour to reduce Milton’s Lycidas to prose, and thereby to produce a verbal symbolism manageable for use in other connections of thought.” And in another work, Adventures of Ideas, he acknowledges that what philosophy does is to build on an already firm foundation, explaining that philosophy expresses “flashes of insight beyond meaning already stabilised in etymology and grammar.”
Despite Plato’s famous wish that poets be banished from the Republic and the ancient quarrel between poets and philosophers, there has always been a close, if at times tense, relationship between the art of poetry and the act of philosophising. In comparison to the Asian philosophical heritage, the Western philosophical tradition, at least in its dominant form, may not be as keen to regard literature in general and poetry in particular as rich sources of philosophical insight. In fact, many would maintain a certain distinction, with clearly described features, between what is literary and what is philosophical. There is in certain quarters of European philosophy, which insists on criticism, depth and comprehensiveness, a rather negative attitude towards poetry. Heidegger in his essay “What are poets for?” bemoans the fact that philosophers consider a dialogue with poetry as “a helpless aberration into fantasy”. This rather negative.