“Scientific and Specialized Journal of Modern Literary Research”

“Scientific and Specialized Journal of Modern Literary Research”

Examining the topic of philosophy as literature from the perspective of Arthur Danto; a case study of Plato's work "Phaedo".

Document Type : Original Article

Author
MA in Philosophy of Art, Department of Literature and Foreign Languages, Allameh Tabatabai University Master of Comparative Literature, Department of Literature and Foreign Languages, Allameh Tabatabai University.
Abstract
In his article titled "Philosophy as Literature/Philosophy and Literature/Philosophy of Literature," Arthur Danto argues that literary forms and techniques played a significant role in the philosophers' exposition of their ideas, but these characteristics have often been overlooked in the analysis of philosophical works. Interdisciplinary researchers have frequently analyzed literary works from the perspective of philosophical ideas or schools, but the examination of philosophical works from the standpoint of literary form and elements has received less attention. This research aims to draw researchers' attention to the role of literature within these texts by adopting Danto's distinct approach to the examination of philosophical works, and to study the interplay between literature and philosophy in a prominent philosophical work such as Plato's Phaedo, which exhibits distinct literary qualities. The study intends to use available resources to answer the question of why a great philosopher like Plato utilized the characteristics of a tragedy to present concepts such as the immortality of the soul, the transience of the body, and death, and how he portrayed the renowned Greek philosopher Socrates as a tragic hero for his audience. The research observes that literature possesses remarkable power in depicting philosophical ideas and persuading the reader's mind to accept them, and can lend new dimensions to the understanding of philosophers' texts and generate a different perspective on their discussions.
Keywords
Subjects

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