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Articles

Taylor Swift: A Philosopher For Our Times

Susan Andrews parallels Taylor Swift with Aristotle and Socrates.

Is Taylor Swift a philosopher for our times? Could she help us understand ourselves and the world we live in? In her song ‘So High School’ on her most recent album The Tortured Poets Department, Swift sings, “You know how to ball, I know Aristotle.” Taylor Swift may seem an unlikely Aristotelian but there are notable parallels. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle explored the purpose of art in his work Poetics (c.335 BCE). At the time in Greece, tragedies were all the rage.

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