There is perhaps no more famous formulation in the Platonic corpus than Socrates' assertion in book 10 of the Republic that there is an “ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry” (607b). But “philosophy” was a discipline that did not have an ancient pedigree: it is Plato who first uses the term to designate a specific intellectual enterprise. In classical Athens, the word “philosophy” signified “intellectual cultivation” in the broad sense. In other words, a wide array of intellectuals – including many poets – were described as practicing “philosophy.”

It is Plato, in fact, who first identifies “poetry” as an arch-enemy of this unfamiliar thing called “philosophy.” As I will argue, Plato's suggestion that there is an “ancient quarrel” between these two genres should not be interpreted as true historical reportage; rather, it is part of a bold rhetorical strategy designed to define philosophy and invest it with a near-timeless status.