IN SEARCH OF MAN: INTERACTION OF PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE IN WESTERN SPIRITUAL TRADITION

Abstract

The article considers the phenomenon of interaction of philosophy and literature on the material of anthropological issues within the Western spiri tual tradition. It is shown that this kind of mutual enrichment has been successfully carried out since antiquity, in particular, in the sense of the influence of poetry and drama on the formation of philosophical thought, epic poetry and drama became the forefront of philosophy. Thus, a precedent was set, a certain model of interaction and mutual enrichment was initiated.It is emphasized that in literature, especially in drama, comic and tragic were explained in detail, which had an impact on the understanding of human nature in philosophy, as evidenced by the search for classical thinking – on a theoretical level and Hellenistic philosophizing – rather on a practical level: in the latter case, the philosopher often became someone like a literary character.The article also traces the analysis of the interaction of the tragic and the comic in the postantic era, in particular, from the Renaissance to the twentieth century.The affinity of philosophy and poetry as manifestations of the universalist approach to reality, characteristic of Western spiritual culture, as revealed by Aristotle, is also emphasized, and their emphasis is not on what was, but what should be. The productive interaction between philosophy and literature has been traced on the example of such antagonistic trends as the Enlightenment and Romanticism. The symptomatic appearance of such integrating literature and philosophy as S. Kierkegaard, F. Nietzsche and F. Dostoevsky in the 19th century is also pointed out. Examples of the close complementarity of anthropological research by philosophers and writers in the twentieth century are demonstrated. Finally, among the thinkers of the time is the figure of M. Heidegger, who, especially in his “late” period, often appealed and cothought with poets. It is noted that the most relevant in philosophical and literary studies (as opposed to scientific and religious approaches) is the analysis of time and death. That is, it is concluded that the most fruitful interaction of philosophy and literature was realized in modern times. Based on the principle of interdisciplinarity, it is substantiated that philosophical anthropology received the most fruitful impulses from the field of literature.