Shakespeare and philosophy

This chapter aims to outline William Shakespeare's relation to "philosophy," conceived non-technically; indeed much as many of Shakespeare's peers would have understood that word, as a total and fundamental vision of reality. It argues the importance of what the dynamic perspective in Shakespeare: one that places experience, in particular the flow of experience, at the centre of his work. The chapter suggests that Shakespeare apprehends the world in terms of change, flux, and ongoingness, and that the ceaseless flow of experience constitutes a kind of ultimate category of his art. Shakespeare celebrated the passions, not least the evil ones, because, as an artist, he appreciated how necessary they were if life was to retain any glamour or piquancy. Shakespeare seems to have a peculiar sensitivity to the ways in which phenomena are shifting, contradictory, and complex – interrelated rather than merely and statically distinct.