Plato and Aristotle

1. GURU and SHISHYA
Master and Disciple

2. The Master (Guru)
• the first to expound the theory of art in
general terms,
• His views have exerted a strong influence on
every generation of thinkers. Any discussion
on the general nature of literature must
begin with him
• Diverse and Contradictory views: on the one
hand, he is opposed to arts as an end in itself
and on the other, he glorifies and extols the
artist and emphasizes his role in human life.

3. What did some English critics say
about the Master (Guru)
• “Of all philosophers, I have esteemed
him most worthy of reverence and
with great reason, since of all
philosophers he is the most
poetical”. - Sir Philip Sidney
• He exhibits the rare union of close
and subtle logic.......- Shelley

4. HIS REJECTION OF POETRY
• Is it not surprising that the most poetic of
philosophers is avowed enemy of poetry?
• In Book-10 of his famous Republic, he
banishes all the poets from his ideal state.
• He exiles poets on two grounds:
(1) Metaphysical
(2) Ethical

5. According to him,
Art
Fiction
Imaginative
imitative
untrue

6. He wrote, “This was the conclusion at which I was seeking
to arrive when I said that painting or drawing and
imitation in general are engaged upon productions which
are removed from truth, and are also the companions
and friends and associates of a principle within us which
is equally removed from reason, and that they have no
true or healthy aim.”
Attainment of truth is a goal for
human being
All art, being fiction, is untrue and
necessarily twists and distorts truth

7. His Doctrine of Ideas or Forms
Ideal World
Real World
Imaginary/Artistic
World

8. According to him,
• There is an ideal world. The real world is
reflection/copy/imitation of this ideal world,
• Art is an imperfect reflection/imitation/copy
of the real world,
• Hence, art is an imitation of imitation,
• It is third-hand distortion of the truth,
• It is thrice removed from reality,

9. On ethical grounds, he rejects poetry
because he believed that....
moral study
:essential for
all humans
Wanted all arts
to be governed
by moral
principles
He as a right
to oppose any
artistic form
A
philosopher:
moral
custodian of
the welfare of
people

10. Rejection of poetry on ethical ground
• He believed that imitative Art has a corrupting
influence on man who should be governed by
reason and not by passion
• He condemns poetic imitation on the ground
that it “fed and watered the passions instead
of drying them up”
• He advocates strict censorship and exhorts
poets to inculcate in people moral virtues

11. The Shishya (Disciple)
spent some twenty invaluable years under the tutelage of
PLATO
established the Lyceum in 335 B.C.: an academy-
multidisciplinary, devoted to all available forms of knowledge
including mathematics, philosophy, politics, sciences and arts
On a modest estimate, his writings run to four hundred
volumes
In India, we know him as a teacher of Alexander, the great

12. The Disciple
was an academic, a man of letters, a naturalist and
in words of Eliot, “a perfect critic”.
His works: acromatic
Addresses many problems that PLATO addressed,
makes full use of the terminology and doctrines of
Plato to develop theories of his own
In many cases, he shows his radical departure
from Plato whose name is not even mentioned in
his famous treatise, Poetics

13. How does he differ from his master?
•Re-organise human life
• believed that the phenomenal world- an
objectification of the ideal world, the ideal world is
real; the phenomenal world is but a shadow of this
ideal world
•Language: poetic and charming
The Master
(Transcendentalist,
Idealist)
•Re-organise human knowledge
• believed in the reality of the world of the senses
•This world is real and it must form the basis of any
scientific and systematic inquiry
•Language: dogmatic and telegraphic
The Disciple
(Scientist, biologist
and an
experimentalist)

14. Imitation (Mimesis)
• Was first to use the word “imitation” in connection with poetry
• Poet: just copies the ideal, he should be an instructor
• Merely as a servile copy or mimicry of nature
The
Master
• Took the word from his master and breathed a new life in it
• Poet: a creator “Correctness in poetry is not the same thing as
correctness in morals, nor yet is it the same as correctness in
any other act”
• Poet: the maker , his creations: imitations of human action,
human character and human emotions
• Art: free an voluntary activity, free from any utilitarian motives
• A creative and dynamic process: while imitating the poet
transforms the ideal into something new an much higher
The
Disciple

15. Imitation
• Poetry- painting
• Poetry: presents a copy of nature as it is
• Poetry: a copy of reality
• Poetry: what is
• Philosophy- superior to poetry
The
Master
• Poetry- music
• Poetry may imitate men as they are or better and worse
• Poetry: an idealised version of reality
• Poetry: what ought to be
• Poetry is as important as Philosophy
The
Disciple

16. The Teacher and the Student
• Imitation: an imperfect copy
• The poet imitates something as it is
• Emotions: undesirable and advocated their repression
(Phobia of emotions- Lucas)
Teacher
• Imitation leads us from particular to the universal, it
is instructive
• The poet not merely imitates but renews the things
• Emotions: need for emotional outlets, medicinal,
psychological, purgative use of emotions, emotions
may be controlled and guided but not repressed
Student