The Many Paths to Sophia: Toward a Deeper Philosophical Appreciation of Poetry

Although the argument against poetry may have had its locus classicus in Plato’s Republic, the philosophical qualms against poetry are deeply rooted and are not unique to Plato’s philosophy. We begin by considering the reasons why some philosophers once believed that philosophy was superior to poetry, and then we regard some of these prejudices and how they have been debunked in contemporary philosophy. Our main purpose in this paper is to move beyond this inadequate understanding of poetry to a deeper philosophical appreciation of it. Keywords: poetry; philosophy; educatio