On the Necessity of the Philosophical Poem
This “essay” is actually written entirely in verse and yet is meant to be a philosophical argument. The abstract reads as follows: It is suggested that human beings have three absolute ideals, three goals and values that are each complete and irreducible. They are Beauty, Truth and Goodness. As each is ultimate and underived, they represent for us something like the ultimacy of God. This were a kind of blasphemy except that the three might be speculatively considered a mysterious unity analogous (in a Thomistic sense) to the Trinity that is the one eternal God. Accepting such an analogy, we can try to imagine Beauty, Truth and Goodness as a unity and construct the possibility of an ideal philosophical art. To reflect the value of God himself, we might suggest, we bear a kind of moral duty to try to construct philosophically precise, beautiful poetry. Thus the content and the style of this work.
To read the essay/poem itself use this link: PhilPoem