Return to your first short paper and now write a paper comparing the devices used for presenting
philosophical views employed in the different genre through which the views are presented. You may
refine your initial interpretations of the texts. Be sure to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each
of these literary forms for presenting philosophical ideas, and the interpretive challenges presented by
each different genre. Be sure that you examine at least two different genres. If you used more than two
texts for your first short paper you may reduce the texts down to two for this paper as long as the two
texts represent two different genres.
Each of the texts we read are of a different literary genre (dialogue, poem, letter). The prompt simply asks you to compare the literary devices that the author used to convey the philosophical ideas that were presented. A literary device might be the use of simile (x is like y) that Lao Tzu used in Living as Water. For Plato the device is his dialogue style. King used several devices like metaphor and allusions. For a list of literary devices see this website:
Next discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each of the literary styles (dialogue, poem, letter) for expressing philosophical views. Are some better than others at conveying philosophical ideas? Are there interpretive challenges? Interpretive challenges means any difficulty one might have with interpreting the text simply because of the particular style that’s been used. (Remember how difficult it was to understand Lao Tzu because of how it was written? It was a very different level of effort from reading King’s Letter.)
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