Shakespeare's Philosophy

October 2, 2006
Shakespeare's famous phrase "All the world's a stage/ And all the men and women merely players" reflects a common sense of the self shared by many philosophers. So begins McGinn's project of tracing Shakespeare's philosophy through six of his great plays, while arguing that the great English bard can be fairly regarded as a philosopher. Without seeming at all dusty, the book examines Shakespeare in relation to Hume, Wittgenstein and such major philosophical questions as nothingness, language, causation and the nature of knowledge. McGinn makes a credible case that the essays of Montaigne as well as skepticism and naturalism had a clear influence on Shakespeare's writings, bringing unexpected freshness to topics that are well-worn in high school curriculums. Most interesting is McGinn's earnest delight in rediscovering Shakespeare's characters, such as the tragic Cordelia and the indecisive Hamlet. McGinn's gift, aside from his clear and beautiful prose, is in recognizing Shakespeare's genius in creating true and recognizable people, who ring as true to modern audiences as they did to his contemporaries. "He told us how the world looks from the perspective of itself. And the world never looked the same again." This conclusion implies that just as Shakespeare the playwright still moves his audiences, so, too, can Shakespeare the philosopher.