POETRY AND PHILOSOPHY

POETRY AND KNOWLEDGE
Sometimes,I have been surprised by the thought of following a philosophical discourse just for fun. To see what new idea worthy of hardheaded research merits my time and effort. One such idea can be phrased in the question: what came first poetry or philosophy? Answer: Homer before Socrates. Is the poet a true philosopher or, on the contrary, the philosopher is the true poet?I would suggest that those questions are most relevant in the case of Nietzsche, the author of "Thus spoke Zarathustra". I like to toy with the concept of reading him for fun as I would do with poetry. For the pure pleasure of deconstructing, analysing and sometimes debunking its hidden propositions. Just readin Nietzsche to follow the form, the images instead of its systemic content, its materiality. Let's read Hegel's "Phenomenology" for the pure beauty of its systemic form. It's long, complexed paragraphs, interminable definitions of "categories". amazing turns and counterturns of logic to justify the "absolute". Are there any absolutes left today? Remember Parmenides argument over the One? In the universe, whenever the one is, it will be within the nothingness, the zero. Whatever is relevant is also relative.Now, let's take poetry. Homer represents heroic, sequential discourse full of tantalizing imaginations of gods and goddesses. Philosophy of history. Goethe's "Faust" is the work of an epic storyteller whose geniality is akin to the literary tradition of the author of the Illyad. But, how to pass by without mentioning Shakespeare; metered verses dripping with life's wisdom. Just another form of philosophy. Milton's "Paradise", besides a fine, brilliant critique of religion and a basis for a theological/philosophical argument is nonetheless a poem. Therefore, poetry can be serious philosophy without fixed paradigms or esoteric dogma. While Wittgenstein establishes the impossibility of discreet, individual cognitive knowledge, poetry proves the contrary. Poetry is and will always be counter systemic, one may say Nietzschenian; that is, individualistically free. Octavio Paz, W. Whitman, Lorca, Neruda, Kerouac, Emily, Baudelaire, Rilke, Thoreau, Pound, and now also the members of the Santo Domingo "Aleph".("Entre brumas" and "Entre el petalo y la espina"). j.a.canto, MBA November,2007