Poetic Thinking Research Articles

Philosophy and Poetic Thinking in Teacher Education

AbstractTeacher education has sought to combine the practice of teaching with the practice of thinking and most popularly through reflective practice. This refers to reflection on and in action that leads to thoughtful practical doing; praxis. In spite of its intention to develop teachers’ practical wisdom, reflective practice has become instrumentalised for the efficient achievement of educational ends without questioning whether the means of achieving them are conducive to living a good, meaningful life. Standardised modes of thinking have all the more estranged teachers from thinking Being and from exploring meanings of who they are as teachers. To address this issue, this paper explores possibilities offered by poetic thinking and metaphorical thinking with reference to the thoughts of Heidegger and Arendt. The analysis of the problem of the abandonment of thinking Being by philosophical traditions as well as Aristotle’s notion of praxis and poesis have been originally addressed by Heidegger. Poesis, the act of making and bringing something forth has also been discussed by Arendt in her thoughts about metaphorical thinking and its potential for becoming something new. I argue that poetic forms of thinking enrich the debate about the relation between philosophy and teaching and are insightful for doing philosophy for teachers. They encourage teachers to make use of language in an original way to bring themselves forth as unique Beings. To practically explore the poetic possibilities in teachers’ quests for meaning, I refer to a student teacher’s writing as an example of how Being teacher can be poetically revealed.

А. АЛТАЙДЫҢ «ТУАЖАТ» РОМАНЫНДАҒЫ НЕОМИФОЛОГИЯЛЫҚ МОТИВТЕРДІҢ АРХЕТИПТІК НЫШАНДАРЫ

The article deals with the archetypal symbols reflected in the ancient Kazakh myths of neo-mythological motives of A. Altai's novel «Tuazhat». In world and domestic literature, interest and the search for myth did not decrease, but increased. The prose of our national literature, which is a component of Kazakh culture, did not stand aside. No matter how much modern human society faces economic difficulties, modern domestic literature is experiencing a spiritual and cultural revival. Today's domestic literature is inspired by the ancient Kazakh archetype, and works are written that meet the requirements of the time. Our writers freely indulge in mystical, utopian and phobic creative forms, reflected in world culture with the help of myths, and describe their thoughts with symbolic metaphors. Mythology acquires its own poetic thinking in the works of Askar Altai. Such mental thinking demonstrates the author's complete creative possession of the nature of the process of mythification of realistic and postmodernist trends. The author draws attention to myths and folklore in the depiction of various negative phenomena that are alien to modern society. He also enriched previously stable and traditional mythological patterns by subjecting them to various changes. The proximity of artistic prose to philosophy and psychology is a proven fact of modern literary criticism. Therefore, the era of the emergence of new absurd, pictorial and mystical works, gradually moving away from the dominance of today's realism, is connected with the author's myth. Thus, at the beginning of the 21st century, Kazakh prose writers, who wrote in various genres, began to freely learn world and ancient Kazakh mythological materials. In the work of Askar Altai, various cultural trends and literary reminiscences are combined in one place in the space of a literary text. Instead of traditionalism, the author created new myths told by a modern "storyteller" who has his own characteristics, a different style of speech, a different understanding of life.

The Poetics of Journey to the West (2021): Disclosing a Way to Dwell in the World

Abstract Science fiction films and poetry are often assumed to be unrelated or even mutually opposed. Among Chinese science fiction films in recent years, Journey to the West is a uniquely poetic example. It offers a secular challenge to science fiction while simultaneously performing a dual construction of science fiction textually and thematically through poetic expressions – thereby expanding the genre boundaries and localized creation possibilities of science fiction films. This paper uses life-world philosophy to examine the film’s existential theme and analyzes the film’s science fiction poetic expressions through the theoretical perspectives of film poem, poetic thinking, poetry-film, and Chinese poetics, arguing that they illustrate and compensate for the limited meaning of the science fiction genre and scientific rationality itself, while exemplifying the ability of science fiction films to serve as a way of disclosing being-in-the-world.

The spirit of freedom in the works of Mashkhur-Jusip Kopeyuly

Relevance. The works of Mashkhur-Zhusip Kopeyuly always differ in science in terms of their national content, style, and breadth of knowledge. Over time, the poet's legacy is being studied in detail, and its significance and relevance is growing. Purpose. The purpose of the study was to analyze the patriotic poems of Mashhur-Zhusip Kopeyuly and their impact on the modern youth of the sovereign country of Kazakhstan. In addition, to analyze the poet's personal statements, his poetic thoughts and philosophical views. Methodology. The research employs a qualitative approach, involving a comprehensive analysis of Mashkhur-Zhusip Kopeyuly's literary works. The study delves into the historical context, thematic elements, and symbolic representations within the poet's writings, drawing insights from literary criticism and historical accounts. Results. The article covers topical issues such as the national spirit, heroism and identity of the country, freedom and liberty, and their impact on the Kazakh spirituality, which are the basis of the poet's works. The historical events of the early 20th century, the violence of colonial policy and their consequences were widely reflected in the poet's legacy. In addition, the poet's own personal expressions, poetic thoughts and philosophical views were scientifically described and analyzed in detail. The poet's basic humanistic views on education and science, tradition and culture are depicted in the research. Conclusions. The study concludes that Mashkhur-Zhusip Kopeyuly's literary legacy holds enduring relevance in fostering a sense of patriotism and national pride among the youth of modern Kazakhstan. His works remain a testament to the indomitable spirit of the Kazakh people and their unwavering pursuit of independence and self-determination. The research underscores the need for further in-depth analysis and broader dissemination of the poet's works to inspire future generations and promote a deeper understanding of Kazakhstan's rich cultural heritage.

Ideological-Aesthetic Significance of Stropha in the Poetry of the Independence Period

This study delves into the exploration of ideological-aesthetic and artistic poignancy within independence-era poetry through an analysis of strophic structures. Employing psychological, structural-poetic, and descriptive techniques, the research examines both the internal and external compositional properties of strophes. By focusing on the poetry of notable figures such as Sirozhiddin Sayyid, Fakhriyor, Abdulla Qutbiddin, Abdullah Sher, and Ulugbek Hamdam, various strophic structures are identified and analyzed. The conclusions drawn from this scientific inquiry serve as the foundation for advancing the scientific-theoretical understanding of lyrical genres in poetry, contributing valuable insights to the broader scholarly discourse.
 Highlights:
 
 The study investigates the intricate strophic structures of independence-era poetry, shedding light on their ideological-aesthetic significance.
 Psychological, structural-poetic, and descriptive techniques are utilized to dissect both internal and external compositional properties of strophes.
 By analyzing works of prominent poets like Sirozhiddin Sayyid and Abdullah Sher, the research contributes to a deeper understanding of lyrical genres and their artistic implications in poetry.
 
 Keywords: Strofa, Ideological-Aesthetic Property, Rhythm, Poetic Thought, Artistic Detail.

Borys Grinchenko: poet, lyrical subject, and epoch

The focus of the paper is on the complicated process of including Borys Grinchenko’s poetic heritage in the cultural history of the Ukrainian people as a nation. Attention is drawn to the erroneous statements in the studies of the 1930s to 1950s and the restoration of a fair assessment later. The paper traces the evolution of Borys Grinchenko’s poetry based on the analysis of particular details in his works and materials of discussion on the recognition of the literary value of his “poetic word”. The texts of his works are analysed as the case study the 1903 lifetime edition “Writings. Volume 1”, which was wrongly underestimated at the time.The innovative tendencies of his poetic thinking can be traced from the beginning of his literary activity to the last years of his life. Attention is drawn to the genres, themes, figurative language, and stylistic features of Grinchenko’s poetry in their evolutionary development (the 1880s through the 1900s). Particularly noteworthy is the rhythmic and melodic structure of the author’s poetry and its gradual changes. His works may be associated with such stylistic systems of Ukrainian poetry as Enlightenment romanticism, neo-romanticism, and symbolism. The edition of Borys Grinchenko’s poetry “Writings. Volume 1”, highly appreciated by Lesia Ukrainka at the time, may serve a code for understanding the peculiarities of his creative style as a poet. In addition to the epic mastery that distinguished the writer, his poetry demonstrated the expressive lyricism of the “poetic word”. One of the peculiarities of Grinchenko’s poetic pieces was cyclization, especially evident in the collection “Minutes”, which was included in the mentioned edition. In the author’s lyrical and confessional preface, he clearly outlines the image of the lyrical hero of his works. The lyrical character and his individual existence are extremely important for Grinchenko as the poet. The final part of the paper formulates the fundamental values of Borys Grinchenko’s life credo. His poetry has been and continues to be a significant and valuable cultural phenomenon, contributing effectively to the establishment of Ukraine as a nation.

On the Poetic Thoughts of “Yue Shan Notes On Poets and Poetry”

On the Poetic Thoughts of “Yue Shan Notes On Poets and Poetry”

Сочетаемость слова «будущее» как лингвокогнитивный инструмент изучения образной семантики поэтического концепта

The study aims to present various mechanisms of cognitive modelling as a way to detect integrity and stability in the figurative system of poetic language. The paper considers the semantic representation of one element of the figurative-associative level of the FUTURE concept, i.e., the lexeme будущее (the future) in comparison with the element прошлое (the past) of the same conceptual macro-field “Time”. The scientific novelty lies in identifying the general patterns of figurative conceptualization of a poetic reality fragment, i.e., the Future universal. As a result of the study, it was found that the system of figurative paradigms developed on the basis of cognitive metaphors is characterized by stability and reproducibility, serves to store and transmit methods of poetic thinking in linguistic forms. When examining asymmetry of related literary concepts as independent units of literary discourse, collocability becomes an effective tool for identifying the figurative-associative content of the concept. Predicative and non-predicative phrases perform the task of cognitive modelling in different ways. The semantic compatibility of the lexeme representing the concept is stable in poetic language as a secondary semiotic system.

Философские константы в творческом самоопределении песенных поэтов

The article compares the views of foreign philosophers on the nature of creativity, their reception in the Russian literary criticism and the creative implementation of some points in the Russian songwriting. The works of W. Benjamin (1892–1940) The Task of the Translator (1923), M. Blanchot (1907–2003) The Space of Literature (1955), P. Valery (1871–1945) Poetry and Abstract Thought (19390, S. Mallarme (1842–1898) The Crisis of Verse (1896), M. Heidegger (1889–1976) Hölderlin and the Essence of Poetry (1936), K. G. Jung (1875–1961) Archetype and Symbol (1934–1961) are used as a theoretical basis. Song texts of the representatives of the author’s song tradition A. Galich, A. Bashlachev, whose work is usually attributed to bard rock, and E. Letov, one of the main representatives of Russian punk rock, are used as research material. The choice of the authors is determined by the concept of the work, which seeks to show the universality of the constants identified in the process of research for various song and poetic traditions and philosophical systems. As such constants, the utopian concepts of “a single discourse”, a single “conversation” of poetry, and “pure art”, which is a “goal-in-itself”, stand out. Other constants relate to the inner state of the poet, techniques aimed at achieving inspiration – we are talking about the concepts of “removal”, or, according to Shklovsky, “estrangement”, as well as “silence”. The central constant is the concept of the “inexpressible”, “elusive”, which is the essential goal of every poet, clearly seen, but always unattainable. In thinking about each of the constants of philosophical thoughts about creativity, we find confirmation or discrepancies in the creative practice of song poets. It leads us to the conclusion that song poetry, following traditional poetry, accepts and transmits the experience of the Russian and Western philosophical and poetic thoughts about the essence of creativity. Typological overlaps are of a supranational, cosmopolitan nature, which indicates the universality of the constants we have identified. The work contributes to the study of song poetry, which confirms its status as the next stage in the existence of poetic discourse, which proves the legitimacy and necessity of studying song texts from a philological standpoint.

Repairability as a Condition of the World: Ernesto Oroza’s Archive of Dis/repair

In an age of apparent disrepair as the climate crisis takes hold and neoliberalism fails to liberate, as the cost of living rises and rights are retracted, the need for a reparative turn is overdue. But what is repair? If repair is contained in moments of total breakdown, then the reparative acts of care that sustain the world are denied. Countering these forces and the urgency prescribed by the crisis of disrepair and in what too often appears as the proprietary epistemology of repair, in this paper I offer an account of ‘repairability’. Structured in relation to the reparative gaze of feminist theory and poetic thinking, repairability assumes a material trace, I contend, through the vernacular archive of Cuban artist-ethnographer Ernesto Oroza. Oroza’s work offers a compelling case study through which to think the possibility of repair as an act of worldly becoming.

ЯЗЫК И МУЗЫКА (НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ ЦОВА-ТУШИНСКОГО / БАЦБИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА И ФОЛЬКЛОРА)

The article is devoted to the actualization of interest in the language of the Ts’ova-Tush small nation, which is threatened with partial disappearance. The author refers to the study of the Ts’ova-Tush language through the folklore-song context as an effective mechanism for attracting the interest of the philological community. The author is quite convincing in her conclusions about the interaction of musical and song folklore of all the northeastern tribes of Georgia. The work contains original observations concerning the peculiarities of the subject, the forms of existence of various genre-themed song layers, the manifestation of formulaic poetic thinking. Interesting are the author's observations on ritual chants, which are performed only solo, accompanied by a muted sing-along, without the accompaniment of a musical instrument.

The Architecture of Love in the Poetic Thinking of James Baldwin and Jericho Brown

By situating Baldwin’s Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems in conversation with Jericho Brown’s 2019 poetry collection The Tradition, this article examines the theory of love in their poetic thinking. It argues that in their poetry, love emerges as a multifaceted mode of knowing and feeling, grounded in corporeal intensity and imbued with sociopolitical and historical meanings. Both Baldwin and Brown view love as integral to the understanding of queer sexuality and racial politics, foregrounding at the same time the challenges of loving and being loved in a historically anti-Black society. Their poetics of love coalesces the intellectual and the affective, the erotic and the political, moving beyond the conventions of inward-bound and personal lyric toward what Martinican philosopher and novelist Édouard Glissant termed a “poetics of relation.” Such transgenerational reading also allows us to explore Baldwin’s and Brown’s poetry as acutely attuned to historical moments which seem strikingly similar: Reagan’s and Trump’s presidencies.

Կանանց կերպարները «Սասնա ծռեր» հերոսավեպի Մոկաց պատումներում

The analysis of female characters of the heroic epic "Sasna Tsrer" revealed that there are ten female images in the epic, which are divided into two main groups from the pers-pective of relation to the heroes of the epic: relatives and aliens. Moreover, the dearest is the character of the foremother Tsovinar. These images have ancient mythical roots, figur-ative parallels or traces of many of them are observed in the epics of various peoples. These images thicken or typify the actions of male heroes, prevent or exacerbate conflict clashes, and receive a decisive role in the development of the events of the epic. Female images in the epic are created by powerful epic-artistic poetry, ideal representations of folk poetic thinking and, undoubtedly, with heroic accents.

Georgian Translations of "Cinna" by Pierre Corneille

Georgian reader got acquainted with the work of Pierre Corneille in the second half of the nineteenth century. Georgian translators were especially interested in P. Corneille's tragedy  ,,Cinna’’.  Currently, there are three Georgian translations of ,,Cinna’’.  The first one belongs to Alexander Tchavtchavadze (1844),  second - to Nino Tarishvili (1941-1942), and the third -  to Giorgi Salukvadze (1961). Al. Tchavtchavadze 's translation has come to us  in its complete form. The translator either extends or reduces the dialogues or monologues of the actors by one or two verses in case of need. That is why, there are totally 1766 verses instead of original 1780  in the translation. The mentioned work is made in rhyming verse - we find both ordinary and beautifully designed poetry, although mostly the patterns are poor. It is not hard for Alexander Tchavtchavadze to codify ,formulate and analyze the text of ,,Cinna", it is easy for him to decode the phrase and make the necessary paraphrase and changes. Al. Tchavtchavadze successfully adapted the sixteen-syllable Georgian verse to the Alexandrian verse of the original, and at the same time ensured the creation of adequate artistic forms of ,,Cinna" in translation.  It is undoubtable ,that Al. Tchavchavadze picked the text of ,,Cinna" thanks to his own literary taste and intuition and also due to socio-political interests – through this translation he draws an allusive parallel with the 1832 conspiracy of the Georgian nobility, whose 145 participants were first executed by Nicholas I, known for his cruelty. He did not decide, but soon, thanks to his own natural ,,kindness", he forgave all the conspirators.  Chronologically, the second Georgian translation of "Cinna" was made in 1941-1942 by the famous poet Nino Tarishvili. At present the mentioned translation cannot be found  in the archive of Nino Tarishvili preserved in Giorgi  Leonidze State Museum of Literature.  In the time period of my friendship with Ms. Tarishvili, I read the manuscript of the translation of ,,Cinna" at her residence and now, without any special research, I can say that the text of "Cinna" is completely translated from French in fourteen-syllable rhymed verse and is distinguished by the depth and charm of Nino Tarishvili's poetic thinking. The third translation of ,,Cinna" belongs to the poet Giorgi Salukvadze, who was able to preserve the form and content of the origin in his translation. Despite some shortcomings of the work, G. Salukvadze vividly describes the artistic portraits of the main characters, because of this, the Georgian translation of ,,Cinna" is an artistically matured work.  The fact that three famous Georgian poets were interested in the translation of Pierre Corneille's "Cinna" is very significant for the history of Georgian-French literary relations. We hope that in the future Georgian poets will return to the translation of "Cinna" and give us better and improved texts

The Imagination of Romantic Poetry under Different Regional and Cultural Backgrounds: Comparison and Analysis of Kubla Khan and Mount Skyland ascended in a Dream-A Song of Farewell

Romanticism is an important branch of the literary genre, and imagination is an important feature of it. From different historical backgrounds, Both British poets and Chinese have each profound insight into the imagination in their romantic poetry creations. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, as a pioneer of English Romantic poetry, his dream fragment Kublai Khan established an unshakable position in the poet's literary circle, while Li Bai was a well-known romantic poet in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. His representative work, Mount Skyland ascended in a Dream-A Song of Farewell, shocked the entire Chinese poetry circle as soon as it came out. This essay analyzes the poets' poetic thoughts on imagination by studying the different backgrounds of the two poets, the cultural traditions they contacted, and the philosophical thoughts they infected and meanwhile compares and analyzes the image characteristics of the two poets' representative works to explore the concrete expression of the poet's imagination in the poems. It is found that there are similarities and differences spatially and emotionally in terms of imagery. Moreover, the imagination in romantic poetry not only creates a series of illusory images and casts a phantom veil on the whole poem but also insinuates the poet's poetic thought and inner emotional appeal.

TEXT reviews April 2023

Jen Webb reviews Julia Prendergast’s Bloodrust; Kevin Brophy reviews Paul Magee’s Suddenness and the Composition of Poetic Thought; Dominic Symes reviews Marcelle Freiman’s Spirit Level; Julia Fazzari reviews Marion May Campbell’s languish, and Rosemary Williamson reviews Roslyn Petelin’s How Writing Works: A Field Guide to Effective Writing (2nd Edition).

MYTHIC PLOT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NOVEL COMPOSITION

This article shows that the artistic structure of the work in modern Uzbek novels is built on the basis of an ancient myth (for example, the ancient myth about the "tree of life" in the novel "Chinar" by Asqad Mukhtar), the mythological plot serves as a criterion for describing the mental state of the hero (for example, in the novel "Mahmud Torabi" by Asad Dilmurod The myth of Ulgan and Erlik), the construction of the interpretation of time and space on the basis of a mythopoetic model (for example, the novels of Amon Mukhtar), the absorption of the essence of the mythological image into the character of the hero (for example, the novel "Shokh" by Shoyim Botaev) is about the meeting of different types of mythology. Images related to mythopoetic thinking in modern Uzbek novels include the introduction of the ethnopoetic context related to archaic ceremonies, paintings and rituals that express the ancient mythological beliefs of our ancestors, stylization of myth plots and motives, images related to totemistic, animistic and magical beliefs and It consists in researching such forms as the poetic transformation of symbols and ethnic mythology, that is, the use of myth plots and mythologemes related to the poetic thinking of other peoples and peoples.

Heidegger in the Literary World: Variations on Poetic Thinking ed. by Florian Grosser and Nassima Sahraoui

Reviewed by: Heidegger in the Literary World: Variations on Poetic Thinking ed. by Florian Grosser and Nassima Sahraoui Elias Schwieler Heidegger in the Literary World: Variations on Poetic Thinking. Edited by Florian Grosser and Nassima Sahraoui. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021. Pp. ix + 287. Cloth $115. ISBN 978-1538162552. Heidegger in the Literary World: Variations on Poetic Thinking sets out to explore "poetic thinking" along with, but also against, Heidegger's version of poetizing thought. [End Page 169] It is an ambitious task and the essays collected in the volume cover an impressive range of topics and authors. The book is divided up into two parts with two sections for each part. The first part is titled "In-Between Philosophy and Literature" and consists of the two sections "Text, Exegesis and Salvation" and "Displacing the House of Being"; the second part, "Literary Reception – Politics Between East and West," is made up of the sections "Hölderlin and the Poetics of the States" and "Crossing the Boundaries of the Other: History, Time and Silence." The main stance of the volume, which informs all the essays collected in the book, is to provide a critique of Heidegger's version of poetic thinking. This means that the aim is not to undermine or discard Heidegger's thinking on poetry and literature, but rather to explore new and, at times, unexpected paths along which his thinking might take us when we are confronted with selections of poetry and literature with which Heidegger did not engage himself. The variations on poetic thinking in the book are notable, spanning several linguistic and cultural registers, which is one of the main contributions of the volume, and something which the editors call the "deprovincialization" of Heidegger. We are accordingly introduced to German, French, Japanese, American, Russian, Jewish, and Latin American variations of Heidegger's philosophy. The editors argue, furthermore, that an additional aim of the volume is to deconstruct the reification of works of art (such as poetry and literature), that is, the philosophical use of art to illustrate and exemplify lines of thought, concepts, and theories. However, a critique that could be directed at some of the essays in the volume is that they inscribe themselves in the very movement they try to deconstruct. There is, in other words, a problematic of application, treatment, and bestowing of meaning on more than one level: There is the use of Heidegger's philosophy by poets and authors, as identified by the scholars represented in the volume; there is the discerning of Heideggerian topologies in poetry and literature; and there are the counter-readings of Heidegger's thinking, as performed by the different scholars of the essays in the book. What these applications, bestowing of meaning, and counter-readings amount to, in the end, is a declarative, at times normative, understanding and subsequent description of 1) a work of poetry or literature, 2) Heidegger's thinking, and 3) their inter-relationships. This quite conventional representational movement of scholarship into which the volume, at times, falls back nevertheless brings to light nuances and perspectives that otherwise might not have been highlighted in Heidegger studies. Importantly, this movement also works to hide and conceal—the work (philosophical, poetical, literary) withdraws with its explication, and it is precisely such a withdrawal of what the work of art is that the essays in the volume themselves cannot avoid. Heidegger was acutely aware of this kind of withdrawal, a fact that is evident, for example, in his reading of Stefan George's poem "Das Wort" in the essay bearing the same title. Thus, the deciphering of a word, a poem, a philosophy, or a work of literature, is the impossible possibility [End Page 170] of its being. This being said, the valuable and, indeed, necessary critique offered by the essays that constitute Heidegger in the Literary World provides new ways of reflecting on Heidegger's notion of poetic thinking. The thoroughness of reading and philosophical insight in the essays included in the volume do indeed do justice to the similarities and differences which exist between Heidegger and the individual works of poetry and literature analyzed in the book. A special mention is due to one...

Cognitive Metaphors in Vi Thuy Linh’s Poems

The purpose of this study is to examine cognitive metaphors in Vi Thuy Linh's poetry to see the new and reckless poetic thinking as well as the concepts in her poetry. The linguistic description method; context analyzation are used to clarify how the nature of cognitive metaphor models structure the mindset, perception, and human activities and discover specific features in the way of perceiving and thinking and reflecting the world of author. Along with statistical and classifying methods based on two volumes "Khat" and "Dong Tu" I have seen cognitive metaphors expressions in this is the destination domains of love. Through research, it has been highlighted that cognitive metaphor is not only a rhetorical form of literature but also a matter of thinking, a specially mental mapping that has a great influence on how people think and act in daily life. In practical terms, the research took advantage of conceptual models of cognitive linguistics to explain the thinking manipulations and arguments in Vi Thuy Linh's poetry - what makes the difference in her language usage as well as the style of composition.

Spinoza and Poetic Thinking

ABSTRACT Spinoza scholars disagree about the role and value of the imagination in his philosophy. The notion of ‘beings of reason’ poses interesting questions about what fiction and poetry can contribute to philosophical thought. What are the pros and cons of imaginative and poetic thought and how do these relate to analogical versus deductive reasoning? These questions are treated in the context of Spinoza’s practical as well as speculative philosophy. It is concluded that beings of reason are unsuitable for use in speculative philosophy.