What is art According to Plato and Aristotle?

Plato and Aristotle argue that artist (Demiurge) and poet imitate nature, thus, a work of art is a relection of nature. However, they have different views on the functions of imitation in art and literature. He argues that a work of art does not imitate nature as it is, but as it should be.

What is the relationship between art and ethics?

There is long history surrounding the relationship between the arts and ethics. The arts affect individual identities, communities, and relationships between people and their environments. The arts can contribute to the ethical life of a community, as exemplified by public art and theatre.

What did Kant say about art?

Kant has a definition of art, and of fine art; the latter, which Kant calls the art of genius, is “a kind of representation that is purposive in itself and, though without an end, nevertheless promotes the cultivation of the mental powers for sociable communication” (Kant, Critique of the Power of Judgment, Guyer …

What did Plato say about art?

In the Republic, Plato says that art imitates the objects and events of ordinary life. In other words, a work of art is a copy of a copy of a Form. It is even more of an illusion than is ordinary experience.

What’s the difference between Plato and Aristotle?

Plato (c. 428–c. Aristotle also investigated areas of philosophy and fields of science that Plato did not seriously consider. According to a conventional view, Plato’s philosophy is abstract and utopian, whereas Aristotle’s is empirical, practical, and commonsensical.

How does Aristotle compare tragedy with history?

Even if history were cast into the same kind of meter as is used in tragedy, Aristotle argues, it would only be history in verse. The true difference between historians and poets, Aristotle states, is that the former records what has happened, while the latter represents what may happen.

What are the three main elements that Aristotle thought tragedy needed to have explain them?

‘” Aristotle defined three key elements which make a tragedy: harmartia, anagnorisis, and peripeteia. Hamartia is a hero’s tragic flaw; the aspect of the character which ultimately leads to their downfall. In Othello, his rage and recklessness is fueled, more than anything, by his jealousy.

What is the concept of mimesis?

Mimesis is a term used in philosophy and literary criticism. It describes the process of imitation or mimicry through which artists portray and interpret the world.

How does Aristotle define tragedy and comedy?

Aristotle finds that tragedy deals with serious, important, and virtuous people. Comedy, on the other hand, treats of less virtuous people and focuses on human “weaknesses and foibles”.

Why is Aristotle’s Poetics important?

Whichever side of the debate you end up on, it is important when studying the Poetics to take time to decode its dense text. The Poetics is Aristotle’s attempt to explain the basic problems of art. He both defines art and offers criteria for determining the quality of a given artwork.

How long is Aristotle’s Poetics?

twenty pages

How did Aristotle view art?

Aristotle, the Greek philosopher views art as an imitation of life. Art is defined by Aristotle as the realization in external form of a true idea, and is traced back to that natural love of imitation that characterizes humans, and to the pleasure which we feel in recognizing likenesses.

What are the benefits of art according to Aristotle?

According to Aristotle, art is an attempt to grasp at universal truths in individual happenstances. Aristotle took a particular interest in tragedy through art, which he described as an imitation of action. It creates a treatment for the more unbearable passions we hold in our minds.

What according to Aristotle is poetry?

He defines poetry as an art that imitates: “imitation . . . is one instinct of our nature” and “the objects of imitation are men in action.” He considers “Comedy . . . an imitation of characters of a lower type;” tragedy is “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude;” Aristotle …

Can an interesting art lead to a good life?

Art gives us meaning and helps us understand our world. Scientific studies have proven that art appreciation improves our quality of life and makes us feel good. When we create art, we elevate our mood, we improve our ability to problem solve, and open our minds to new ideas. According to Dr.

Can good art make one a better person philosophy?

While a piece of art may resonate with your emotions because of something you’ve experienced, it can help you understand the thoughts and emotions of the artist, too. And that’s exactly why an appreciation for the arts can make you a better person. It can lead you to empathy and kindness.

Does art have a moral purpose?

Art, even bad or so-called offensive art, is a prerequisite of or precursor to morality. Oscar Wilde wrote, “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Inanimate objects are neither moral nor immoral, although many can be put to immoral uses.

How does Aristotle define tragedy in the sixth chapter of the Poetics?

Tragedy is an imitation of action with the following characteristics: it is serious, complete, of significant magnitude, depicted with rhythmic language and/or song, in the form of action (not narrative), and produces a ‘purgation’ of pity and fear in the audience (also known as catharsis).

What is mimetic theory of art?

Mimesis in art is the tendency for artists to imitate, or copy, the style, technique, form, content, or any other aspect of another artist’s work. It is the idea that Erich Auerbach made popular in his book, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. The idea is that art imitates nature.

How does Aristotle defend poetry?

Aristotle’s defence. As many allegations have been put on poets by Plato, Aristotle, the disciple of Plato comes forward in the defence of the poets. He agrees to the fact that art is an imitation of the real world imitated from ideal world which is further imitated from the world of Truth.

How did Aristotle defend imitation and poetry?

Aristotle proclaimed that the poet imitates “the ideal reality,” not the mere shadow of things. Thus, the poet does not copy the external world. He creates something new according to his own “idea” of it. He provided a strong defense of poetry by blowing off Plato’s theory of Poetic Imitation.

What makes a play mimetic?

In summary, one central feature of mimesis is its production of possible worlds—worlds “as if.” The imitation of life in play or narration, the world “as if,” is not life itself, but rather represents, through symbolic expression somehow similar to it, the real world.

What is Aristotle’s objection to the theory of mimesis?

Aristotle’s Objection to the Theory of Mimesis Aristotle believes that there is natural pleasure in imitation which is an in-born instinct in men. It is this pleasure in imitation that enables the child to learn his earliest lessons in speech and conduct from those around him, because there is a pleasure in doing so.

What are the major concerns of Aristotle’s Poetics?

In particular, Aristotle focuses his discussion on tragedy, which uses dramatic, rather than narrative, form, and deals with agents who are better than us ourselves. Tragedy serves to arouse the emotions of pity and fear and to effect a katharsis (catharsis) of these emotions.

What is the moral purpose of art according to Plato?

Traditionally Plato stands at the head of all arguments of the morality of art. In book two and three of his Republic Plato argues that art can affect the education, development, and character of individuals, especially young children, by impressing upon their minds different ideas and values.