The borderline between Literature and Philosophy was never as sharp in reality as it might seem in the course catalogue. It is with the second type of works that we will deal in this course. In other words we shall have a look at Philosophy in Literature.
Literary works can have philosophical merit in very different ways.
They can convey philosophical reasoning or ethical ideas in literary form like the examples by Lucretius and Dante in our reading list. Or the literary work can be interesting rather by the what it presents a Philosophical question than by the answers it attempts to give to it, like some modern works in our reading list. The Dialogue form, traditionally offers interesting possibilities because of its ability to present conflicting views. And we will - of course compare with what other thinkers have said about them. The order of the reading will not be historical.