Criticisms of Plato in Aristotles Poetics - Literature review Example

Criticisms of Plato in Aristotle’s Poetics Ibrahim Unvan Love, Tragedy and Cruelty (PHIL-1071-M01 15) Christian Kerslake Institution: University of Greenwich Introduction Aristotle’s Poetics is one of the most significant discussions of literature in the history of philosophy and literary criticism; in it, Aristotle counters Plato’s critique of art and drama by presenting an account of the nature and function of literary art. Aristotle’s Poetics responds to Plato’s argument in The Republic that poetry represents mere appearances, hence is not only misleading, but also morally suspect. By approaching literary texts as a natural scientist would, Aristotle, unlike Plato, explains the features of the different forms of literary art as well as the social functions and ethical utility of art in general. This essay seeks to identify the implicit criticisms of Plato in Aristotle’s Poetics, and to evaluate whom between the two presents a more convincing aesthetic theory. Plato’s Objections to Poetry According to Plato’s theory of mimesis, art is an imitation of imitation, which means that it is twice removed from reality (Plato 1955, p.132); Plato argues that people first have ideas about things, before they actually create them. For instance, a carpenter’s chair is first conceived in the carpenter’s mind as an idea before it is realized in the physical sense, thus it is once removed from reality. However, a painter’s chair is two times detached from reality because it is a mock of the carpenter’s chair, which is itself a copy of the original idea in the carpenter’s mind. As a moralist, Plato objected to poetry because he perceived it to be immoral; for instance, poetry appeals to the lower mental faculties, it portrays noble men with disordered mental faculties, and leads people away from the truth. As a philosopher, Plato objected to poetry because it is based on fiction; to him, truth derived from philosophy was better than the pleasure of indulging in poetry. The ‘philosophical’ approach is connected to the ‘moral’ approach; Plato praised philosophy and regarded it more highly than poetry because philosophers deal with truth rather than an illusion of the truth as poets often do. As it can be seen, Plato rejects poetry from three points of view namely educational, philosophical and moral; from an educational perspective, Plato disapproves of the use of epic narrative in bringing up children because to him such stories are not only unfit for children whose impressionable minds act like sponges absorbing everything, but also because they cannot be true. Philosophically, Plato thinks artists lack knowledge; he considers poetry not to be practical because unlike other practical arts, it does not have any educational value. Poetry fails to reveal true knowledge because when one is continually exposed to poetry, they cannot appreciate reason, justice and the pursuit of truth (Plato 1955, p.130); he strongly believes that poetry yields unwarranted lamentation and ecstasies or anxieties while obscuring reason at the same time. From the moral perspective, Plato disapproves of poetry because it encourages undesirable passions; to him, poetry was inferior to the rest of the practical arts because it only appealed to the inferior part of the soul. In other words, poetry seduces the reader into feeling the undesirable emotions, which is not only irrational, but also emotionally cowardly. In Plato’s opinion, poetry was not good for society because it did not serve any healthy social function; he considered drama to be the most dangerous form of literature because it emphasizes a faulty understanding of reality. Aristotle’s Criticisms Aristotle responds to Plato’s accusations in the Poetics by describing the nature of poetry; generally, Aristotle agrees with his teacher that indeed poetry is an imitation, but he goes further to state that poetry can imitate characters and actions, and in this way exhibit universal truths about human beings, and that which is ideal. Unlike Plato, Aristotle believes that people are naturally inclined to imitate phenomena because there is natural pleasure to be derived in doing so; in that case, imitation is a natural instinct in all human beings. Aristotle disagrees with Plato’s view that poetry is twice removed from reality and that it is a mere illusion of truth. Aristotle criticizes Plato for failing to understand that art goes beyond the mere reflection of the actual in the sense of a mirror and arguing that art is not a slavish imitation of sensible appearances. For instance, rather than reproducing life in its totality, literature only represents selected aspects (characters and events) that are crucial in communicating the artistic vision of the creator. In his defense of art, Aristotle compares poetry and history, arguing that whereas the former relates what has happened, the latter deals with what is likely to occur, or what should have happened (the ideal). In other words, Aristotle implies that poetry gives us something more that cannot be found in the actual or in the physical reality of an entity; in that respect, a poet has the capacity to recreate a world that has its own beauty and meanings that are divorced from actual reality, and touch on universal truths in all possible worlds. Poetry deals with the universal, unlike history that represents the particular (Aristotle 1965, 14S0a 1-22); in that respect, Aristotle argues that poetry is in fact even more philosophical and superior to history because it expresses what is possible, unlike the latter. Aristotle further disagrees with Plato on the point that the function of poetry is to make individuals too emotional or sentimental to appreciate reason, justice or the pursuit of truth; Aristotle argues that poetry plays the crucial role of catharsis, contrary to Plato’s view, (Aristotle 1965, 1449b26; 39, 49ff). In his theory of catharsis, Aristotle believed that poetry (particularly tragedy) is good because it yields new understanding and aesthetic fulfilment while contributing to a better condition of mind in people, thus creating a stable society. In that respect, tragedy enables people to purge their pent up emotions thereby becoming better beings; for instance, by watching tragedy, people are relieved in knowing that they are not in the same predicament as the tragic hero. Aristotle also disagrees with Plato concerning the moral nature of poetry since he believes that poetry seeks to provide aesthetic delight, to communicate experiences and people’s emotions, and to represent life in general, unlike ethics, which only serves to teach morality. Nevertheless, Aristotle argues that in as much as it is a natural source of pleasure, poetry can also be a source of moral lessons for the public and is not devoid of virtue or values as Plato claimed. Discussion Generally, Aristotle presents a more compelling theory of aesthetics than his teacher (Plato) because he focuses on poetry in terms of its functions, which are themselves derived from its unique nature. Contrariwise, Plato judges poetry from multiple standpoints including the educational, philosophical and ethical perspectives, and remains oblivious of the fact that every entity must be judged based on its own aims and objectives as well as from its own unique standards of merit and demerit. As Aristotle puts it, the primary function of poetry is to communicate aesthetic pleasure, to communicate experience, to express emotions and to represent life and as such, poetry should not be confused with ethics, which seeks to teach morality. Aristotle’s criterion focuses on assessing poetry in terms of its own aims and objectives, thus, a good poet should be able to deliver aesthetic pleasure; unlike Aristotle’s approach, Plato’s assessment of poetry is confusing because he pays no regard to the nature of poetry. In other words, Plato rejects poetry because according to him it is neither philosophical nor ideal, which implies that he treats them as equal while clearly they are different entities, each with its own nature and functions. Overall, Aristotle’s aesthetic theory is more convincing than Plato’s because it gives a precise description of both the nature and functions of poetry unlike Plato’s version which confuses poetry with philosophy and ethics. References Aristotle. 1965. ‘On the Art of Poetry’. Translation by Ingram Bywater in Aristotle/Horace/Longinus, Classical Literary Criticism, ed. T.S. Dorsch, London: Penguin. Plato. 1955. Republic: Book II-III, 376b-403e, and Book X, 595a-608b. Translation by Desmond Lee (London: Penguin), pp. 128-65, 421-439. Read More