Art, Literature, Creativity and Philosophy

Art, literature, creativity and philosophy

I write this having read Christian Milai’s recent post, which can be found here. (http://cristianmihai.net/2012/10/16/beautiful/#more-1842)

Does art, by which I mean all that is generated by the creative impulse, share anything in common with philosophy? Or is philosophy separate, a stand alone playground for the intelligentsia? Well for one there is no such thing as the intelligentsia, that’s just a made up word for elitists in smoking jackets who think more of themselves than they ought.
Secondly these two things, without doubt, arise from the same impulses. Their focus differs slightly. Art describes our world, and sometimes what isn’t in it and philosophy makes an attempt to explain it and sometimes what isn’t in it. Avid biography readers will note many of the great thinkers were also great art or poetry fans as well as making inroads into these genres themselves.
Art and philosophy share two main ingredients: cognition and creativity. Without them human beings lack and the world becomes an uninteresting place. Because of our obsession with categorisation we think of art and philosophy as separate things, that are perhaps reserved for the elite classes. We are mistaken. These two precious similar, and yet unique, forms of communication, interpretation and perception are integral to all of us. They are more than that, they are part of us: each and every one of us.