Does philosophy have its origins in poetry?

i dont see how that would be possible

the human mind is naturally inquisitive, philosophy is just the search for knowledge so it seems its just a natural human instinct...

art is also a natural human instinct, but i see no relation

stuh, do you see the medium of poetry as having no knowledge?

I was thinking about the poetry of war, and realized how many thoughts therein expressed the author's knowledge and philosophy of conflict.
As for art, look at Picasso's "Guernica."

poetry having knowledge? no knowledge is something only a brain can have....but if you mean our poems contain information, lessons, opinions, inner views, certainly...i would say most art does.

guernica, that is a a strange painting on the side of a building depicting a bull a light bulb and some other icons if i remember correctly...what does guernica have to do with this?

Stuh, I was just countering your response. We aren't born having a philosophy, you know. It grows through our encounters with certain external factors, one of which is reading and viewing. And Guernica depicts Picasso's views of war, right?

we aren't born having a philosophy, but we are born with the desire to answer questions about life...and philosophy is not just our personal opinionated answers to those questions, it is also the study of finding those answers. this is all i meant.

yes guernica depicts his views of war...so you could say his philosophy on war was depicted in that piece of art...but he would still have that philosophy had he not made the painting, but your initial post made it sound as if you were suggesting that poetry/art was a necessary precondition for havign a philosophy

No, no. The title is in question form. I deliberately did that to solicit our thoughts on the subject.

It's an interesting question, Letty, and one that I can't properly answer now, but will return to, later. Whereas I feel that philosophy is an intristic part of every thinking person, I think that poetry was one of the first ways of recording it, and passing it along-- look at Ovid's Metamorphoses, as an early example. Whether it is the earliest form of philosophy is up for debate; but, it is surely one of the most effective; I wonder what makes it so?

i would think that philosophy is also put into cave art which came about earlier

drom, the thought came to mind, and then I did a search to see if indeed others had thought along the same lines. I was truly stunned to see a rather arduous explanation, so I did not post the link.

I'm certain that part of the preoccupation with verse and how I react to it, is because of my family background, but that's not entirely true either.

Thank you for responding, my friend.

stuh, I don't have much background in this type art, but if I recall, many cave dwellers painted their exploits, somewhat akin to a pictorial diary of their hunting skills and victories thereof. This is probably the instinctual aspect that you spoke of.

Although I am anti-war, The poem, "Death of the Ball turret Gunner" by Randall Jarret. (think that was the poet) made me recognize the soldier's philosophy after the fact.

Hmm....I will think a little longer, and reply to the question as it stands in the topic title this evening.

Please do, onyx. I value your input.

Hi. This is my first post on A2K and I'm really jumping off the deep end.

Even in the 400 BC there were arguments as to the worth of poetry. Plato banished poets because he considered they told lies. However Aristotle, his student, considered the difference between historian and poet was that one spoke of what had occurred and the other of what might occur. He concluded, therefore, that poetry was more philosophical and serious than history.

Hi. This is my first post on A2K and I'm really jumping off the deep end.

Even in the 400 BC there were arguments as to the worth of poetry. Plato banished poets because he considered they told lies. However Aristotle, his student, considered the difference between historian and poet was that one spoke of what had occurred and the other of what might occur. He concluded, therefore, that poetry was more philosophical and serious than history.

I think that had either of those famous philosophers had lived in todays world, they would most likely have had completely different opinions

Intersting subject <taking a seat> I'm here to listen for a while.

I quite agree with you stuh505.

But the interesting thing is that they had different opinions from each other.

I can see that I'm going to enjoy being a member.

it does not surprise me that they had differing opinions. if they had had the same opinions, aristotle would have been a nobody and only his teacher would have been remembered. i dont agree with anything either of them said there.

tarah, first of all. Welcome to A2K. The entire purpose of this thread is to go off the deep end, and if you can't swim, just float with us. <smile>