Inspiration in the Aesthetics of Plato

Partee, Morriss Henry

doi:10.2307/429578

Cited by 20 publications

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“…Depending on whether you find Socrates ironical or earnest, you will consider the divine possession he proffers either a sly euphemism for Ion’s irrationality, or a hypothesis meant to account for the merit that some poems have. (Representative interpretations include Janaway 1992; Pappas 1989; Partee 1971; Woodruff 1982). And whether by large steps or small ones the idea has moved away from poets’ learning facts or picking up the knack for a good phrase.…”

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Plato on Poetry: Imitation or Inspiration?

Pappas

2012

Philosophy Compass

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A passage in Plato’s Laws (719c) offers a fresh look at Plato’s theory of poetry and art. Only here does Plato call poetry both mimêsis “imitation, representation,” and the product of enthousiasmos “inspiration, possession.” The Republic and Sophist examine poetic imitation; the Ion and Phaedrus (with passages in Apology and Meno) develop a theory of artistic inspiration; but Plato does not confront the two descriptions together outside this paragraph. After all, mimêsis fuels an attack on poetry, while enthousiasmos is sometimes used to attack it, sometimes to praise it. The explanation evidently lies in Plato’s understanding of drama, which in the Laws has grown more precise, from simply the presentation of characters to the presentation of multiple characters engaged in dramatic conflict.

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Plato on Poetry: Imitation or Inspiration?

Pappas

2012

Philosophy Compass

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Censorship of literature texts and Plato's banishment of the Poets

Bogdan

1983

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Janaway

1998

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The book is an examination of Plato's philosophy of art. Central to the book are Plato's arguments in the Republic that traditionally accepted forms of poetry, drama, and music are of questionable value, on the grounds that they do not arise from knowledge on the part of artists, and that they can be harmful because they appeal to the emotional side of the psyche. The book suggests that Plato has a better case for his views than has often been claimed, given the context of his ethics and epistemology, and that his views challenge much of what is accepted as good art in modern thought. To understand Plato's position, his views on inspiration, craft expertise (techne), beauty, moral education, and representation (mimesis) are examined through the discussion of a number of his early and middle‐period dialogues. It is argued that Plato's later writings do not significantly retract the critical views of the arts found in the Republic. Throughout, links are made with recent philosophical aesthetics, and the question posed is what defence of art modern thinking can or should make against Plato.

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Inspiration in the Aesthetics of Plato

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

Plato on Poetry: Imitation or Inspiration?

Plato on Poetry: Imitation or Inspiration?

Censorship of literature texts and Plato's banishment of the Poets

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