Platos Poesis in Republic

A detailed Summary of Platos Poesis in Republic

Plato's three main objections to poetry are that poetry is not ethical, philosophical or pragmatic. It is not ethical because it promotes undesirable passions, it is not philosophical because it does not provide true knowledge, and it is not pragmatic because it is inferior to the practical arts and therefore has no educational value. Plato then makes a challenge to poets to defend themselves against his criticisms. Ironically it was Plato's most famous student, Aristotle, who was the first theorist to defend literature and poetry in his writing Poetics.

Throughout the Republic Plato condemns art in all forms including literature or poetry. Despite the fact that he wrote, Plato advocates the spoken word over the written word. He ranks imitation (mimetic representation) on a lower plane than narrative, even though his own works read like scripts (the Republic is written in dialogue form with characters doing all the talking). It appears as though his reasoning is that imitation of reality is not in itself bad, but imitation without understanding and reason is. Plato felt that poetry, like all forms of art, appeals to the inferior part of the soul, the irrational, emotional cowardly part. The reader of poetry is seduced into feel

Plato's views may be deemed narrow-minded by today's society, but one must remember that Plato lived over 2000 years ago. He probably wrote Republic with the best intentions for the people of his time. While his views on censorship and poetry may even seem outlandish today, Plato's goal was to state what he judged to be the guidelines for a better human existence. The merit in Plato's arguments is demonstrated by the fact his philosophies on poetry are still studied by scholars around the world today.

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Approximate Word count = 1052
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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