ABSTRACT
The ancients characterized poetry as the imitation of men in action. They had in mind such things as epic, dramatic and dithyrambic poetry, all forms of literature that tell a story. There is no problem in adding novels and short stories to this roster of imitations. Lyric poetry, by contrast with the other sort, does not deal with action, but with a view of the world or a reaction to the world. But such perspectives and reactions are themselves fraught with moral values. One of Wittgenstein's concerns in the Philosophical Investigations is to expose the confusions in this traditional 'other minds' problem with its claim that our mental life is in some metaphysical fashion essentially hidden from others. It is an unusual state of affairs when crops are diseased, cattle sicken, children are stillborn and these misfortunes descend upon the city all at the same time.
