Shakespeare

1
Shakespeares Philosophy
2
Colin McGinn

• McGinn found that Shakespeares plays deal with
  all sorts of important things, including
  skepticism and the possibility of human
  knowledge the nature of the self and personal
  identity the understanding of causation the
  existence and nature of evil the formative power
  of language.

3
An In-Between Time

• Think about this when Shakespeare wrote, very
  little we now take for granted was known in
  astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology.

4
Stratford-Upon-Avon

• Next time someone asks you what is wrong you can
  tell them you are epistemologically blighted!

5
Royal Shakespeare Theater

• Our inner lives lie hidden away, and there is no
  way to be sure what lies in the hidden interior
  lives of other people. This is what gives
  Shakespeare so many interesting plots and
  characters!

6
Stratford-Upon-Avon

• McGinn writes Shakespeare regards the self as
  interactive and theatrical.

7
The Question

• Do we live in a meaningful universe? Is there a
  greater intelligence directing the things that
  happen, even if we dont understand them?

8
It Is What It Is

• If we pull all of this together, we will see that
  Shakespeare was someone who did not let belief
  systems determine his views, as shown in his
  plays. Rather, he serves almost like a
  phenomenologist, that is, he looks at the
  phenomena of our lives and does not try to fit it
  into a preconceived explanatory function.

9
Theodicy The Problem of Evil

• So the interesting question here is what is the
  nature of evil, and how does one become evil?
  What does it mean to go against the conscience,
  and how dangerous is it to do so?

10
The Power of Imagination

• We all know how important imagination is to
  creativity. But do we fully understand how
  important it is to our sense of well being or the
  lack thereof?

11
Summary

• In both Montaignes and Shakespeares work,
  there is a kind of appalling, but exhilarating,
  candor. And some of that ruthlessness is
  philosophical the determination to expose
  reality for what it is, to undermine dogma and
  complacency. In the end, of course, this is
  nothing other than a dedication to the truth.