In Rethinking Philosophy with Borges, Zambrano, Paz, and Plato, Hugo Moreno argues that in Ficciones, Claros del Bosque, and El mono gramatico, Jorge Luis Borges, Maria Zambrano and Octavio Paz practice a literary way of philosophizing - a way of seeking and communicating knowledge of reality that uses analogical procedures. They deploy analogy as an indispensable and irreplaceable heuristic tool and literary device to convey their insights and perplexities on the nature of existence. Borges’ ironic approach involves reading and writing philosophy as fiction. Zambrano’s poetic reason is a mode of writing and thinking based on an imaginative sort of recollection that is ultimately a visionary’s poetizing technique. Paz’s poetic thinking relies on analogy to correlate and harmonize an array of worldview, ideas, and discourses. In the appendix, Moreno shows that Plato’s Republic is a forerunner of this way of philosophizing in literature. Moreno suggests that in the Republic, Plato reconciles philosophy and poetry and creates a rational prose poetry that fuses argumentation and narration, dialectical and analogical reasoning, and abstract concepts and poetic images.
Dr. Hugo Moreno is an Assistant Professor with Term of Hispanic Studies at Lewis & Clark College. In October 2021, Professor Moreno received an award for his novel Donde se Acaba el Norte.
