Your Philosophy

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Hamlet, I, v.

What is your philosophy? You might not have thought that you have a philosophy. Perhaps you have never attempted to clarify your view of life. Should we leave such tasks only up to Bertrand Russell, Plato, and the likes of Wittgenstein? Actually, reading the works of such men helps any individual formulate his/her own philosophy. Yet, you probably act on moral values, have considered principles of judgment, and have certain convictions of faith. Sometimes we are not quite sure what we believe until we act on it or put it in writing and consider our words. That, in part, is what this task is about.

The task is to write a two character action that dramatizes your philosophy. The scene should be two minutes in length. Do not write this action as an interview, nor as a narrative. An interview, consisting of one character asking questions and the other answering them, will lack action. Get your philosophical point of view across by what the characters say and do. If the action is written in narrative form then it will not be drama. Your philosophical action will be a short story, an essay, or , at best, a lengthy stage direction or a pantomime. Instead, write a dramatic action with the characters engaged in such a way as to reveal your philosophy of life.

The task of writing your philosophy of life as a small dramatic action serves two essential purposes: (1) a craftsmanship purpose, (2) an artistic purpose.

Craftsmanship purpose

This task will be an introduction to dramatic form. If you come to playwriting after having honed some skills in writing poems, short stories, and dialog for your narrative stories, you will find differences in the imaginative discipline required to write dialogue that continually creates characters in action.

A philosophy in dramatic form will force exposition in the introduction of characters. You will develop character thought by using two aspects of yourself or two imagined beings placing your philosophy in action,

Artistic Purpose

Plays are written with form, style, content, and meaning. Each of these elements is shaped by philosophy. Form is the emotional impact and dramatic shape of the play. Style is the way the author creates the form. Content is what happens in the play, and meaning is what is offered as insight into the human condition In comparison, a house is an architectural form. A Victorian house is a style of house. The people and their daily events bring the house to life. The meaning . . . ? Well, that is the stuff of drama.

In his prologue to Wisdom of the Western World, Bertrand Russell defines philosophy as speculation about the unknown. Russell says, "There are many questions that people who think do at some time or other ask themselves, where science cannot yield an answer." He continues:

"Thus, we may be tempted to ask ourselves such questions as what is the meaning of life, if indeed it have any at all. Has the world a purpose, . . . And what are we to say of man? Is he a speck of dust crawling helplessly on a small and unimportant planet, . . . a heap of chemicals.... Or, finally, is man what he appears to Hamlet, noble in reason, infinite in faculty ? Is man, perhaps, all of these at once?"

Hamlet says, "What a piece of work is a man: how noble in reason. . . in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like an angel; in apprehension how like a god; the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals."

In despair, Hamlet later says, "What is a man, if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more." IV,iv.

Shakespeare has Hamlet ponder a question science can not resolve, what is mankind? His answer ranges from the angelic powers of a god-like creation to a form of animal.

Back to Playwriting

Schedule of Tasks | Requirements for Play | Table of Contents

Back to Prof. Feighner's Home Page