I’m a Bit Miffed with Plato

One of the four books I’m reading right now is an anthology on aesthetic theory called “The Nature of Art”. The first chapter is an excerpt from Plato’s “The Republic”. I have to admit that before diving into this book I had fond memories of Plato from college. It seemed romantic at the time - his writings on Form and his ideas on soul mates. But now, reading him again for the first time in 20 odd years, I’m getting a bit miffed.

It seems we artists - poets and painters - would be excluded from Plato’s ideal city. You see, he considers us imitators, and for Plato, that’s a very bad thing:

“ ...an imitator has no worthwhile knowledge of the things he imitates, that imitation is a kind of game and not something to be taken seriously...”

And he’s not finished:

“However, we haven’t yet brought the most serious charge against imitation, namely, that with a few rare exceptions it is able to corrupt even decent people, for that’s surely an altogether terrible thing.”

Really Plato?  Sookie is responsible for corrupting the souls of innocent citizens? 

Sookie
Acrylic
SOLD