metonymy4u

is science antithetical to poetry? western philosophers have been debating this question ever since plato. in his most famous dialogue, the republic, he outlaws poetry as a false representation of a lie and seems to set up philosophy as the true calling of the educated and (he hopes) ruling class elite. but is poetry really antithetical to science? or is this based on a false nihilism that starts with the assumption of ignorance, leading oh so nicely to the necessity of knowledge, and thence to the primacy of science (philosophy). and yet, if we start somewhere else, perhaps with the assumption of wisdom, can we not embrace the authenticity of art as an equal “truth?” and give up the utility of truth altogether? and replace it with ….what….?