An Ancient Quarrel Continued: The Troubled Marriage of Philosophy and Literature

In An Ancient Quarrel Continued, Louis Mackey argues that the relationship of philosophy with the literary arts is more intimate, more problematic, and more interesting than its relationship with the sciences. Employing the methods of philosophical analysis, as well as critical reading, traversing the realms of literary theory and philosophical fiction, Mackey characterizes a philosophy more acutely conscious of its own textuality and of its reliance on literary forms it ordinarily regards as merely decorative. Mackey shows that the real philosophical interest of literature lies not in what it says, but in the way it creatively molds and modifies the topics of discourse common to philosophy and the other verbal arts.