Platos Argument: Art is an Imitation of an Imitation Essay

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Abstract 

Like most western philosophers, Plato focused a substantial amount of energy on aesthetics.  Aesthetics is the philosophical inquiry into beauty.  For many philosophers, the concept of beauty was synonymous with the concept of art.  However, Plato made a substantial distinction between beauty and art.  Not only did he consider art a poor imitation of beauty, in fact labeling it an imitation of an imitation, but he thought that this imitation was somehow dangerous.  It leads to one of the most interesting almost paradoxes in all of Plato’s philosophy.  While Plato appeared to consider beauty inherently good, he viewed art as not only inferior to natural beauty, but also dangerous.  A further exploration of Plato’s philosophy, and its place in the development of Western philosophy, reveals that Plato’s concept of aesthetics was more about establishing the philosophical rules to discuss beauty and art than it was about placing value on either concept.  This article explores Plato’s role in philosophy, his introduction to aesthetics, and his approach to art as an imitation of an imitation.

Introduction

Western philosophy is built upon the philosophical musings of three famous thinkers: Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates.  These three famous philosophers were linked together by student-teacher relationships, and many students have a difficult time distinguishing their different ideas.  However, there are substantive differences in many parts of their philosophies, and these differences help highlight how aesthetics, which is the philosophical inquiry into beauty and art, developed.  In fact, while Plato is well known for his discussions of art and beauty, he did not actually discuss them in a way that would be familiar to most modern students of philosophy.  Instead, when one studies Plato’s arguments, one sees how they have helped shape core concepts about the study of aesthetics, including the ideas of beauty, inspiration, and imitation.  Only after understanding those concepts can one understand what Plato meant when he described art as an imitation of an imitation.  

Body

For those who are new to the study of philosophy, understanding the relationship between the three fathers of Western philosophy can be a little confusing.  Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates are often treated by some as the same individual, which leads to inherent misunderstandings about their different philosophical approaches, because, while there were substantive differences in their philosophies.  However, the error is understandable because of the relationship between the three men, and, in turn, their impact on the Western World.  Therefore, understanding those relationships can make it much easier to understand their individual approaches.  

Socrates was the first of the three philosophers.  He was a real person who is described by Greek contemporaries.  Socrates was Plato’s teacher.  He was well-known as an educator who worked extensively with the youth of Athens, but his actions were not viewed positively by many Athenians.  On the contrary, Socrates was opposed to the democratic government of Athens and his views had helped inspire some of his students to attempt to overthrow the democratic government of Athens (“The Suicide of Socrates”).  For these reasons, he was charged with corrupting the youth and found guilty at his trial.  Socrates was asked to propose his own punishment, but eventually sentenced to death and ordered to drink hemlock to kill himself.

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 While his death is often described as a suicide, the description is only partially accurate; while Socrates did drink the hemlock that killed him, he did so only because he was under a death sentence and ordered to do so.

While Socrates was a real person, it is important to realize that much of what is known about Socrates is derived from Plato’s descriptions of Socrates.  Therefore, what people think of as Socratic philosophy might better be described as Plato’s take on Socratic philosophy.  In fact, it is suspected that Plato often used the example of his teacher as a means to highlight his own philosophy.  Therefore, although Socrates was a real person, the Socrates people study today might better be considered a fictionalized description of a real person.  

Plato was a well-known Greek teacher.  According to Plato, his own teacher was Socrates., and it is, in fact, in Plato’s writings that one finds most descriptions of Socrates, including the famous account of Socrates’ death.  Plato was also a teacher of youth, but he took a much more formalized role than Socrates had.  Plato founded Plato’s Academy…

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…the impact of corrupting them.  Plato specifically focused on poetry, which was a cornerstone of the education that the youth of Athens during that time would have received.  He was a vocal critic of some of the better known poets at the time, because he considered their works, particularly their portrayals of some individuals, to be corrosive.  

However, Plato expanded the list of things that should not be imitated well beyond things that could be viewed as morally corrosive.  “Alongside villains one finds women, slaves, animals, musical instruments, gears and pulleys, and the sounds of water” (Pappas, 2016).  This list makes it clear that Plato is at least as concerned about the practice of imitation, itself, as he is about what is being imitated.  Art can only ever be an imitation, and is, therefore, below the truth.  Focusing on art has the potential of weakening the individual by impacting their ability to control their own drives and desires.  Therefore, art is dangerous because it threatens the individual’s ability to perceive the truth.  

Conclusion

Plato’s approach to art is often puzzling to people because of assumptions made about Greece during his time.  Greece is known as the birthplace to many great artists and poets, and one assumes that they would be celebrated by Greek’s philosophers. However, the Greek philosophical tradition developed in opposition to Greece’s principals of democracy......

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Works Cited

DeMichele, Thomas.  “Socrates Taught Plato, Who Taught Aristotle, Who Taught Alexander the  Great.”  Fact/Myth.  19 December 2017.  http://factmyth.com/factoids/socrates-taught-plato-who-taught-aristotle-who-taught-alexander-the-great/. Accessed 16 July 2019.  

Macintosh, David.  “Plato: A Theory of Forms.”  Philosophy Now.  2012. https://philosophynow.org/issues/90/Plato_A_Theory_of_Forms.  Accessed 16 July 2019.  

Meinwald, Constance.  “Plato: Greek Philosopher.”  Encyclopaedia Britannica.  4 July 2019. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Plato.  Accessed 16 July 2019.

Pappas, Nickolas.  “Plato’s Aesthetics.”  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  13 July 2016.  https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-aesthetics/.  15 July 2019.

“The Suicide of Socrates, 399 BC.”  Eyewitness to History. 2003.  http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/socrates.htm.  Accessed 16 July 2019.

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