Mimesis: Plato and Aristotle
Mimesis: Plato and Aristotle
1,515 Words
Philosophy 2348: Aesthetics\
The term ‘mimesis’ is loosely defined as ‘imitation’, and although an extensive paper could be written about the cogency of such a narrow definition, I will instead focus on Plato and Aristotle’s contrasting judgements of mimesis (imitation). I will spend one section discussing Plato’s ideas on mimesis and how they relate to his philosophy of reality and the forms. I will then spend a section examining Aristotle’s differing views on mimesis and how it relates to catharsis. During this deliberation I will prove that as with much of their philosophies, Plato and Aristotle disagree on the concept of mimesis. Plato saw mimesis as deceitful and dangerous; Aristotle saw it as cleansing and educational.
In book X of The Republic, Plato uses Socrates and Glaucon as artifacts for contemplating the idea of mimesis. In the dialogue, Plato makes it apparent right from the beginning that he has negative predispositions on imitative poetry. Plato writes:
“...poetry... not admitting at all any part of it that is imitative. For that the imitative... must not be admitted looks... even more manifest now that the soul’s forms have each been separated out... All such things seem to maim the thought of those who hear them and do not as a remedy have the knowledge of how they really are.”
This seems to suggest that under Plato’s perfect society, imitative poetry should not be allowed because it is tricking people into believing that these imitations are distracting people from the real truth, the truth that lies in the forms.
Plato places the forms at the highest level of his schema of reality and imitations (certain poetry and other artwork) at the bottom. He places human representations of the forms – such as the “couchmaker’s” fabrication of a couch – somewhere between the forms and imitative art forms. This couch is loosely based on the form of couch and according to Plato is more permissible than imitative
1,515 Words
Philosophy 2348: Aesthetics\
The term ‘mimesis’ is loosely defined as ‘imitation’, and although an extensive paper could be written about the cogency of such a narrow definition, I will instead focus on Plato and Aristotle’s contrasting judgements of mimesis (imitation). I will spend one section discussing Plato’s ideas on mimesis and how they relate to his philosophy of reality and the forms. I will then spend a section examining Aristotle’s differing views on mimesis and how it relates to catharsis. During this deliberation I will prove that as with much of their philosophies, Plato and Aristotle disagree on the concept of mimesis. Plato saw mimesis as deceitful and dangerous; Aristotle saw it as cleansing and educational.
In book X of The Republic, Plato uses Socrates and Glaucon as artifacts for contemplating the idea of mimesis. In the dialogue, Plato makes it apparent right from the beginning that he has negative predispositions on imitative poetry. Plato writes:
“...poetry... not admitting at all any part of it that is imitative. For that the imitative... must not be admitted looks... even more manifest now that the soul’s forms have each been separated out... All such things seem to maim the thought of those who hear them and do not as a remedy have the knowledge of how they really are.”
This seems to suggest that under Plato’s perfect society, imitative poetry should not be allowed because it is tricking people into believing that these imitations are distracting people from the real truth, the truth that lies in the forms.
Plato places the forms at the highest level of his schema of reality and imitations (certain poetry and other artwork) at the bottom. He places human representations of the forms – such as the “couchmaker’s” fabrication of a couch – somewhere between the forms and imitative art forms. This couch is loosely based on the form of couch and according to Plato is more permissible than imitative
Cited: Cooper E. David [Ed.]. Aesthetics: The Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1997. Print. Plato, The Republic, Book 10, pp 11-28, Aristotle, Poetics, pp 29-44. -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Cooper E. David [Ed.]. Aesthetics: The Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1997. *Plato. [ 2 ]. Ibid [ 3 ]. Ibid [ 4 ]. Cooper E. David [Ed.]. Aesthetics: The Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1997. *Aristotle. [ 5 ]. Ibid [ 6 ]. Ibid [ 7 ]. Ibid [ 8 ]. Ibid