A reconsideration of Plato's objections to poetry as they are set out in the Republic

Abstract

Plato characterises poetry as mimesis. The term is applied in various ways in the argument, but in Book X the specification of the mimesis of the poet is such as to preclude reference to reality. Plato's intellectual objections are aimed at poetry's mimesis of appearances. The relation between appearances and reality and the demarcation between the sensible and the intelligible and between mimesis of 'mere sensible appearances' and the interpretation of such appearances are discussed. Plato's intellectual objections concern the mimesis of emotional actions, the mistaken mimesis of admirable characters, and the mimesis of situations. The ethos of Homer, when compared with that of the Republic, indicates discrepancies between Plato's morality and the morality presupposed by Homeric heroes. Examination of the Iliad reveals a mimesis of social and moral outlook, involving associated honorific titles, with descriptions of men and actions earning them. The beliefs relevant to assessments of heroes presented by the poet in complete and persuasive form. The poetry evokes emotion and engenders a way of seeing situations which, although it is unlike Plato's morality, is nonetheless moral. But poet's aim appears to be entertainment, not to teach. Insofar as poetry is mimetic, the question of the relation of poetic statements to truth is not elminable. Poetry cannot have reference to truth in Plato's system; this suggests that Plato's dismissal of perception as a source of understanding is too summary. Poetic statements presuppose common modes of thinking and the intelligibility of accounts; again the demarcation between the poetic statement and truth is not a clear one. Moral effects of poetry are considered and regarded as different from and incommensurable with poetic effects.