Philosophy, is criticism, of something as nebulous as reality. Criticism is philosophy, in theory form, and applied to tangible cases – completed works of fiction, etc.

I majored in literature with a minor in philosophy. In the lit department, criticism was hypocritically treated as a necessary evil. The professors saw their works as ‘scholarship’ and ‘appreciation’. When I joined that faculty, I spent most of my time in the philosophy department (where they converted their conference room into a smoking lounge), and where the professors gleefully used literary examples to illustrate their philosophical points.

>>I view criticism merely as another form of entertainment, a different genre than poetry or fiction, but ultimately having the same goal at its core: to amuse the audience for a while.

And to the levels of how amusing can it get. That is an extent of my ambition.