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INTRODUCTION

Having finished presenting an account of the perfectly just State, Socrates and his
companions reflect upon it, Socrates begins a discussion with Glaucon about poetry, and
why he has decreed that the poets must be exiled from the city.1

With the rejection of Poets and writers in the Republic and the arguments Plato construed
to show the veracity of his claim, there seem to be a wide gap between philosophy and
literature.2 Hence, the question of the relationship between philosophy and literature is a
provocative debate in the academia. Many do not see the nexus indicating the correlations
between the two discourses. Consequently, Louis Zoo argues that philosophy and literature
belong to distinct areas of study and that there is no nexus that could be created to bridge the
rift.3 However, some other writers and philosophers have argued distinctively that it is erroneous
and untrue to argue that philosophy and literature are far apart- indeed they are corollaries. 4 It is
at the background of this debate that this essay is set to focus on the point of convergence of the
two discourses as a way of grounding the relationship between literature and philosophy.

Furthermore, in order to systematize this essay; it is apt that the tool of conceptual
elucidation be employed to better situate the arguments there in. The understanding of
philosophy sometimes makes the question of this relationship more problematic; hence, the
presentation of philosophy here helps us to understand better the nature of the discourse.
WHAT PHILOSOPHY “IS NOT” AND WHAT “IT IS”
Philosophy is not an abstruse, esoteric, arcane discourse that is only practiced by highly
placed intellectuals and mad people. This false conception arouse from some sorts of
professionalism that began strictly with Kant. In the same way, philosophy is not some doctrines
and mysteries unexplainable packed in books that are propagandas of atheism or secularism.
Such misconceptions of philosophy have pervaded the history of man. However, philosophy can
be conceptualized in two senses. In the first sense, philosophy can be conceptualized as a world
view. “A world view can be defined as a general picture of the world and the place of man in it
and those beliefs or ideas- for example, economic, social-political and moral derived from it.” 5 In

1
Stanley Rosen, The Philosophers Handbook: Essential Readings from Plato to Kant, (New York,
Random House Reference, 2000), p.201
2
Plato, “Republic”, translated by Paul Shorey in The Collected Dialogues of Plato edited by Edith
Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Princeton University press, 1989), p.
3
Louis Zoo, The Problem with Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 7
4
Olusegun Oladipo, Dialogue in African Philosophy- monograph Series: Philosophy, Literature and the
African Novel (Ibadan: Options Book and Information Services, 1993), p. 1
5
Ibid, p. 2

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this connotation of philosophy, we can talk of a communal world view and a philosophical world
view. A communal world view is an unconscious mobbish coagulation of beliefs, concepts and
ideas. While a philosophical world view is characterize as a compendium of beliefs, practices,
concepts and ideas that are systematic and prognostic.6
In the second sense, philosophy can be presented as a rational critical discourse whose primary
aim is that of self understanding.7 This is similar to the definition of H. S. Staniland, “philosophy
is criticism of the ideas we live by.”8 In this plane, philosophy is reactive, argumentative
challenging established explanations of ourselves and our beliefs.

The word Literature is also entangled by litany of definitions that ensues from its
problematic elucidation even from it etymology. However, for the purpose of this essay,
Literature can be defined in the strict sense as a written imaginative and literal work with
significance and a permanent artistic value. It must be imaginative, it must be written and then it
must contain artistic values.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE
On the first point of relationship, Olusegun argues that both literature and philosophy are
related on two general notes. He argues that they are both forms of “social consciousness and
they are constructions of language.”9 The first level of their relationship is the fact that both
literature and philosophy are social phenomena. According to Oladipo, they are social not just in
the general sense of being produced by people who make up the society; rather they are social in
majorly two ways10: both philosophy and Literature are born out of human experiences of an
individual or groups and they often treat very abstract matters that arise from a reflective
pondering on the phenomena of life. Both are products of culture. Again they are social in
another expression. They are both produced for the intellectual and practical needs of the society.
From the points above, it is lucid that both disciplines focus on the same object which can be
construed as the human person in the various aspects of his experience. They both reflect the

6
Olusegun Oladipo, in African Philosophy- monograph Series: Philosophy, Literature and the African
Novel (Ibadan: Options Book and Information Services, 1993), p. 1
7
Olusegun Oladipo, Philosophy as a Rational Inquiry, Paper Presented at the University of Ibadan,
Faculty of Arts Seminar Series on 19 December, 2006, p. 1
8
Staniland, H. S, “What is Philosophy” in Issues and Problems in Philosophy Edited by Owolabi K. A
(Ibadan: Grovacs Network, 2000), p. 3
9
Olusegun Oladipo, in African Philosophy- monograph Series: Philosophy, Literature and the African
Novel, Op.cit p. 1
10
Ibid., p. 5

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quest for the better understanding and the tackling the problems of human existence. It is on this
reminder that literature must necessarily be engaged as well as philosophy.
The second broad connection of the two disciplines in question is the idea that they are
both constructions in language. Philosophy develops concepts and clarifies them, while literature
engages these words to communicate ideas, figures and moral principles and to enlarge realities.

Furthermore, another point that is crucial and allied to the above is the fact that both
philosophy and literature mirror the society together with the society’s development and state.
The philosophy of an era tells of the nature of that age likewise the literature of an epoch tells of
the problems and realities of that period. They both reflect the beliefs of men about realties.

Philosophy is normative as regards the definition of philosophy above. Hence, through


criticism of the ideas we live by, philosophy dishes out norms that should regulate the thinking
and behaviour of men in the society. In the same vein, literature has themes that convey morality
pedagogically. For instance, Achebe’s Things Fall Apart or the Beautiful Ones are not yet Born
or Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and Jewel or Shakespearean’s Hamlet.

As an addendum, philosophy and literature are both systematic presentations. They are
not just some zigzagged amalgamation and mishmash of materials. Finally, philosophy and
literature interacts in delving into each other’s area of discourse. More importantly, philosophy
interrogates literature through the device of Literal Criticism. Literal criticism is the
philosophical analyses cum judgments of works of art and literature.
CONCLUSION
The Associate Professor of philosophy at Stanford University, Lanier Anderson
contributed to this debate of relationship and it is apt to mention it at this juncture. He argues
that: “Great Literature is often deeply philosophical and Great Philosophy is often great
literature.”11 This is exemplified in some great philosophers and importantly the great
philosophers we revered have presented their materials in literary form, like Plato’s Dialogues.
Nietzsche and Wittgenstein wrote in a dramatic ‘aphoristic style’. Finally, for literature to take its
rightful pace and fulfill its function in the society it has to wear some sorts of philosophy. 12 In
fact, some literatures like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet are widely termed philosophical.
11
Lanier Anderson, “The Relationship between Philosophy and Literature” www.philosophytalk.org (23,
May, 2011)
12
Cf. Sartre, “what is Literature”, http://www.sartreorg/index.htm (23, May, 2011)

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson Lanier, “The Relationship between Philosophy and Literature”


www.philosophytalk.org (23, May, 2011)
Oladipo Olusegun. Philosophy as a Rational Inquiry, Paper Presented at the University of
Ibadan, Faculty of Arts Seminar Series on 19 December, 2006.
________________. Dialogue in African Philosophy- Monograph Series: Philosophy, Literature
and the African Novel. Ibadan: Options Book and Information Services, 1993.
Owolabi K. A. Issues and Problems in Philosophy. Ibadan: Grovacs Network. 2000.
Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns. The Collected Dialogues of Plato. Princeton University
Press. 1989)
Rosen Stanley. The Philosophers Handbook: Essential Readings from Plato to Kant. New York.
Random House Reference. 2000
Sartre, “What is Literature”, http://www.sartreorg/index.htm (23, May, 2011)
Zoo Louis. The Problem with Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press. 1996.

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