Other Minds and a Mind of One's Own

An Essay on Poetry and Philosophy

Abstract

In an early round of the famous competition between poetry and philosophy, reason claims the upper hand against emotion. Though Plato achieves nothing like absolute victory for philosophy in this regard, Stanley Cavell rightly discerns that the stakes in this contest are high: nothing less than the soul. Not long after Plato, however, Aristotle ably defends poetry as an art that intends to work beneficially upon the passions to bring about positive results in both the soul and the commonwealth. Later, as Christian culture begins to supersede Hellenistic and Roman alternatives, St. Paul’s resonant prioritizing of charity over eloquence (both human and angelic) starts to carry the day. Early in the third century, Tertulian asks, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” and memorably crystalizes the distinction St. Paul suggests by contrasting light with darkness, Christ with Belial, and idols with the temple of God.