Gabriel Ferrater: A Note on Science, Ideas, and Poetry

Abstract

This paper discusses the relationship between the theory of art and the philosophy of science. In particular, it explores Catalan poet and critic Gabriel Ferrater’s theory of ideas in poetry and specifically his critique of social or realist poetry. The paper shows, on the one hand, that Ferrater’s theory is both antiexpressionist and anti-inductivist, and on the other, that his way of approaching both poetry and criticism can be integrated into the falsationist theoretical framework developed by philosopher of science Karl Popper to understand the process of scientific discovery.