THE POETIC LOGOS AND THE PHILOSOPHICAL LOGOS IN MARÍA ZAMBRANO

Discourse about the gnoseological and ontological capacity of poetry constitutes the core of Zambrano’s thought. In order to explore the relationship between philosophy and poetry she returns to the origins of Greek thought and in particular to Plato who, with his Republic, was responsible for the definitive condemnation of poetry. In the name of immutable and imperishable being, the Greek philosopher separated the philosophical sphere from poetics, making them into two alternative pathways. So, with him, the struggle between two forms of the word was presented. But, in Plato there are two pathways to salvation: no only that of dialectic but also that of love. Love arrives at the same point as knowledge, although by a less appropriate route: that of the mania or madness of love. So love has been saved, as despite starting out from the dispersion of the flesh, it leads to unity of knowledge since its impetus ascends towards the divine. And it is thanks to this salvation of love forged by Plato in Phaedrus that poetry has also been able to exist. In fact, all the poetry of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, although without being aware of it, in prasing the unity of love, is platonic. In this platonic poetry, in reality the only poetry which has been permissible for the poet, the concealed world of thought and the concealed world of poetry came together to form a single ideality. Poetry, therefore, exiled by Plato, by an irony of fate, did not find refuge except through this very philosophical tradition which, thanks to love, allowed it “its highest flight” «su más alto vuelo» .