Mimesis Plato and Aristotle Essay Example

Mimesis: Plato and Aristotle Essay The term ‘mimesis’ is loosely defined as ‘imitation’, and although an extensive paper could be written about the cogency of such a narrow definition, I will instead focus on Plato and Aristotle’s contrasting judgements of mimesis (imitation). I will spend one section discussing Plato’s ideas on mimesis and how they relate to his philosophy of reality and the forms. I will then spend a section examining Aristotle’s differing views on mimesis and how it relates to catharsis. During this deliberation I will prove that as with much of their philosophies, Plato and Aristotle disagree on the concept of mimesis. Plato saw mimesis as deceitful and dangerous; Aristotle saw it as cleansing and educational. In book X of The Republic, Plato uses Socrates and Glaucon as artifacts for contemplating the idea of mimesis. In the dialogue, Plato makes it apparent right from the beginning that he has negative predispositions on imitative poetry. Plato writes: â€Å" poetry not admitting at all any part of it that is imitative. For that the imitative must not be admitted looks even more manifest now that the soul’s forms have each been separated out All such things seem to maim the thought of those who hear them and do not as a remedy have the knowledge of how they really are. † This seems to suggest that under Plato’s perfect society, imitative poetry should not be allowed because it is tricking people into believing that these imitations are distracting people from the real truth, the truth that lies in the forms. We will write a custom essay sample on Mimesis: Plato and Aristotle specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Mimesis: Plato and Aristotle specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Mimesis: Plato and Aristotle specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Plato places the forms at the highest level of his schema of reality and imitations (certain poetry and other artwork) at the bottom. He places human representations of the forms – such as the â€Å"couchmaker’s† fabrication of a couch – somewhere between the forms and imitative art forms. This couch is loosely based on the form of couch and according to Plato is more permissible than imitative art forms. Although the â€Å"couchmaker’s† fabrication of a couch is more truthful than a painter’s representation of the same couch, Plato still condemns it for being deceitful: â€Å" o that they look like they are; however, they surely are not the truth. † Plato feels that because of the rising popularity of imitative art forms within the city, and the skilful representations of craftsmen, people will be misled by the metaphorical mirror that reflects what is real. By deceiving people like this, Plato believes that this imitative poet ry will corrupt the souls of people and therefore should be banned from the city. Along with holding far less truth than the forms, imitative artwork also has negative moral and psychological implications, according to Plato. To accentuate this, Plato divides the soul into three different areas of importance. The base level – in which he calls ‘the appetite’ of the soul and allocates the least amount of importance to – is driven by urges and sins and is easy to deceive and manipulate. The second level, the will, is the power to control one’s own actions, but can also be influenced. The first and most important level is the intellect or reason; this level drives the other two parts of the soul and, when exercised and mastered, can distinguish truth from imitation. Plato claims that imitative art forms seem to target the base level (appetite) of the soul because it is the easiest to deceive and people give in to a sensationalist imitation rather than the truth. â€Å"The imitative poet produces a bad regime in the soul of each private man by making phantoms that are far removed from the truth and by gratifying the soul’s foolish part † Mimesis weakens the first and second levels of the soul by appealing to the base level’s pleasure-seeking ways. According to Plato, imitative art forms are representations of the forms; mere renderings of the truth. Imitative art forms deceive people into believing things that are not the truth. Imitative art forms harm the part of the soul that distinguishes truth from imitation. To harm this part of the soul is to harm truth and reason. The city is just and follows laws that reflect the truth. Therefore, imitative art forms such as most poetry should be banned from the city. * Plato says X, Aristotle says Y, Plato points to the heavens (forms, universals), Aristotle points to the ground (physical objects, particulars) [Raphael’s School of Athens]. Both philosophers disagreed often and it is no surprise that Aristotle’s thoughts on mimesis are an implicit repudiation of Plato’s thoughts on mimesis. In Aristotle’s Poetics he splits mimesis into three varieties: the media, the objects and the mode of mimesis. He does this to help build upon his argument that art and mimesis have importance to a society and actually have striking similarities to philosophy. The media of mimesis is explained as the dissimilarities in â€Å"rhythm, speech, and harmony† that authors and poets can use to get their respective messages across. Aristotle points out that many people – scientists and poets – who write in verse, can be called makers of mimesis and that each â€Å"maker† uses a different media of mimesis. â€Å" they think no doubt, that ‘makers’ is applied to poets not because they make mimesis, but as a general term meaning ‘verse-makers’, since they call ‘poets’ or ‘makers’ even those who publish a medical or scientific theory in verse. † Here Aristotle is attempting associate mimesis to more than the arts by referring to mimesis not simply as imitation, but as similar to making. He is placing a high importance on ‘verse-making’ by showing that a particular rhythm and speech pattern is the only difference between artists and scientists in regard to the way they present their respective works. The objects of mimesis, Aristotle claims â€Å"are people doing things, and these people must necessarily be either good or bad. † Aristotle goes on to say that within representations, people can be portrayed as good or bad (‘better’ or ‘worse’) by artists and we will be able to distinguish this property of goodness or badness through use of mediums such as tragedy and comedy. The mode of mimesis is a way of representing objects in the same media to which Aristotle believes can be done in three ways: â€Å" in narration and sometimes becoming someone else; or speaking in one’s own person without change, or with all the people engaged in the mimesis actually doing things. † These are simply parts of speech an author might use to get her message across about the object, showing it to be good or bad. Aristotle then begins to examine what he believes are the overall causes of poetry. Aristotle states that mimesis is innate in people, when we are born we mimic things and we learn through this mimicry. We understand things we wouldn’t otherwise enjoy seeing in person (re: example of the corpse). The picture of the corpse will â€Å"not produce its pleasure qua instance of mimesis, but because of its technical finish or colour or for some other such reason. † This is to say that we can appreciate the picture of the corpse not due to the fact that it is a corpse (we know it is not a real corpse) but because of the artistic style and or talent of the artist. Aristotle then lays out the foundation for a good tragedy that is to say a tragedy that emits emotion to the people watching or reading it. By invoking emotions through tragedy, people can learn something about themselves and their family and perhaps something even deeper. Aristotle claims that a good tragedy will produce catharsis onto the people watching it. Catharsis is a bi-divisional schema according to Aristotle; it can cleanse people of negative emotions through fear and sadness (dispelling your own fear by watching something scary), or educate or clarify something that one may be struggling with (showing us that road rage can lead to general rage). According to Aristotle, mimesis is innate in human nature and provides us with learning methods. Through tragedies, comedies, poetry and other imitative art forms, we can learn much about ourselves and the world. Learning and education are important to a society and help the development of young minds. Therefore mimesis is good and should be kept in society. * As with much of their respective philosophies, Plato and Aristotle disagree upon the notion of mimesis in their aesthetic approaches. Plato viewed mimesis as harmful to the best parts of the soul, and thought it tricked people into believing more fantastical things and ignoring the truth. Aristotle believed that mimesis – and the catharsis it created – fostered growth and prosperity. Works Cited Cooper E. David [Ed. ]. Aesthetics: The Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1997. Print. Plato, The Republic, Book 10, pp 11-28, Aristotle, Poetics, pp 29-44. [ 1 ]. Cooper E. David [Ed. ]. Aesthetics: The Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1997. *Plato. [ 2 ]. Ibid [ 3 ]. Ibid [ 4 ]. Cooper E. David [Ed. ]. Aesthetics: The Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1997. *Aristotle. [ 5 ]. Ibid [ 6 ]. Ibid [ 7 ]. Ibid [ 8 ]. Ibid

Free Essays on Modern Television

Modern television trends are provocative and revealing enough to cause our ancestors to roll over in their graves but the main question deals with television’s effects on the living. In the article â€Å"Is mayhem TV harming your health† (Louv B-7) Richard Louv discusses how TV can indeed harm one’s health or at least their understanding of the world. It is said that gory television can provoke those who watch to act similarly and it is also said that consistently violent daily news can arouse a person to make severe misconceptions about the well-being of the world. Television is a major vehicle for many things such as learning, advertising, and informing, but in order to assure satisfaction and benefit to the viewer, one must monitor their television experience and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. Television is a positive means of intellectual development for children and adults alike, but it is to be used in moderation because of its ability to misconst rue reality. First off, television is the hallmark of keeping children occupied by way of fun colors and bright cartoons that incorporate learning into watching a program. In early development there is no substitution for television. I could not picture growing up as a child without my daily fix of â€Å"Sesame Street†. Big Bird’s knowledge, Elmo’s curiosity, and the Count’s arithmetic allowed me to think independently at a young age. Children are smarter today due to advances in teaching and technology. Therefore, it would be unfavorable to deprive a child of watching wholesome educational television. A friend of Richard Louv of the San Diego Union-Tribune, who recently got rid of his only household television states â€Å"We’re frazzled sometimes without our electronic babysitter†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Louv B-7) and I can imagine the difficulty trying to fill the void. Besides using the television as an â€Å"electronic babysitter†, adults can also use television to further t... Free Essays on Modern Television Free Essays on Modern Television Modern television trends are provocative and revealing enough to cause our ancestors to roll over in their graves but the main question deals with television’s effects on the living. In the article â€Å"Is mayhem TV harming your health† (Louv B-7) Richard Louv discusses how TV can indeed harm one’s health or at least their understanding of the world. It is said that gory television can provoke those who watch to act similarly and it is also said that consistently violent daily news can arouse a person to make severe misconceptions about the well-being of the world. Television is a major vehicle for many things such as learning, advertising, and informing, but in order to assure satisfaction and benefit to the viewer, one must monitor their television experience and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. Television is a positive means of intellectual development for children and adults alike, but it is to be used in moderation because of its ability to misconst rue reality. First off, television is the hallmark of keeping children occupied by way of fun colors and bright cartoons that incorporate learning into watching a program. In early development there is no substitution for television. I could not picture growing up as a child without my daily fix of â€Å"Sesame Street†. Big Bird’s knowledge, Elmo’s curiosity, and the Count’s arithmetic allowed me to think independently at a young age. Children are smarter today due to advances in teaching and technology. Therefore, it would be unfavorable to deprive a child of watching wholesome educational television. A friend of Richard Louv of the San Diego Union-Tribune, who recently got rid of his only household television states â€Å"We’re frazzled sometimes without our electronic babysitter†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Louv B-7) and I can imagine the difficulty trying to fill the void. Besides using the television as an â€Å"electronic babysitter†, adults can also use television to further t...

Where the experience of male and female slaves similar or different in Essay

Where the experience of male and female slaves similar or different in the nineteenth-century, South - Essay Example were engaged both in urban areas and in the plantations especially in the South which was an agrarian economy and lived and worked under poor conditions. They were also harshly treated by their masters and women subjected to sexual exploitation. However, the experiences of slaves depended on the region, their masters and overseers. In this essay, I will argue that male and female slaves had different experiences in the nineteenth century, south although some aspects were similar depending on the size of the plantation. The antebellum south was a slave society as it had a high population of slaves and depended on them economically, socially and politically and also allowed masters extensive power over slaves unchecked by law.2 In small plantations, men and women performed similar tasks in the fields but in large plantations, men did different work from women. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass gives an account of the experiences men went through in large plantations having been born into slavery by a colored women and a white father. According to Douglass, women were not given tasks outside the plantation hence these were performed by men and included such tasks as: manning vessels; gardening; driving carriages comprising of horses and coaches; carpentry; chopping wood and using field hand oxen to carry the load home; ploughing and wheat fanning among other field duties.3 Men were also used to transport crops and supplies and also hired out as artisans and craftsmen. Women on the other hand, did household chores such as cooking and caring after the master’s white children. They also did laundry, sewing, milking, and spinning, knitting, and working in rice, tobacco and cotton fields. The role of women was clearly highlighted by Deborah Gray White in her book Ar’n’t I a Woman? She argues that women had a very distinct role from that of men in that they bore children.4 These children whether from a white man (mulatto) or black man

The historian's task is to understand the past; the human scientist, Essay

The historian's task is to understand the past; the human scientist, by contrast, is looking to change the future. To what extent is this true in these areas of knowledge - Essay Example This includes various rational, systematic and verification activities used by human scientists for validating the data obtained through objective specific and subjective phenomena. As human science not only remains confined towards the study of humanities and social sciences but also covers the areas of sociology, history, economics and anthropology, it often overlaps the dimensions of historians. Hence, the area of knowledge of human scientists cannot be firmly polarized from that of learning the past like in the case of historians. On the other hand, the Historian’s task can be quite delicate, which includes understanding the implications of various analytical categories for filling up the historical gaps and framing a proper picture of the past. This way, the area of knowledge relevant to historians tends to be polarized from that of the human scientists who learn the past in pursuit to make the future better. The role of historians, since decades, has been focused to provide conceptualized and factual descriptions about various events and circumstances that had occurred in the past and develop an understanding of the same in order to unveil the past origins of the human society. The area of knowledge relevant to historians can be considered significant to a large extent. They play an important role in reconstructing complex stories from scattered historical sources. Human curiosity about their origin and evolution has always strongly motivated the historians in their efforts of understanding past events that had transformed human civilization or embarks on a secretive paradigm of ancient human society. Historians examine the past in a very broad perspective and facilitate the readers in adding up the historical events as well as actions, triggering their thoughts, motives, and adventurous states of mind (Barton, 2009). They study and extract data from old artifacts, recorded writings, past stories and

Woman's Building Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Woman's Building - Assignment Example at is also stated by Chadwick (1990): â€Å"By the time †¦ World’s Fair opened in Chicago in 1893, American women had evolved a new sense of identity and purpose. †¦ [R]epresentatives of all groups came together to organize a woman’s building intended to prove that women’s achievements were equal to those of men† (p. 247) But it would not be right to insist that it was the final event in American culture that changed the course of the history. â€Å"[Women] remained caught between the demands of careers and motherhood, struggling continually against the limitations placed on them by the social category of femininity, against the trivializing of their work in relation to that of men, and against the mythologizing of its ‘otherness† (Chadwick, 1990, p. 248). Though, it was a true victory because â€Å"despite the unevenness of its displays and the critics’ argument that mediocrity was the only possible result when â€Å"femininity was the first requisite and merit a secondary consideration,† the Woman’s Building overwhelmed visitors by the sheer magnitude and ambition of its displays† (Chadwick, 1990, p. 250). Summing everything up, the whole idea of Woman’s Building was not accepted completely but the set of people’s minds was changed due to that. Further steps led to the present where women have the right to express themselves, to compete with men and to be free in all meanings of this

The Infopreneur

The Infopreneur Infopreneur Simple but, an infopreneur is a person that sells information (Chandler, 2007). The infopreneur creates an idea and provides information through the internet. An infopreneur gathers, organizing and disseminates information online as a venture or value added service. The infopreneur runs an information-based business and is available to users of the internet with ease. There is a clear route of disseminate transform profit/ value. Chandler also suggest that it is a relatively new buzz work that is creating waves as is opens doors for entrepreneurs to create new revenue streams. Entrepreneur Experts have different options of how they interrupt the entrepreneur. For Kirzner the entrepreneur is someone who is alert to profitable opportunities for exchange (Deakins, Freel, 2003). He see the individual acting more as the middle man but identifying customers as well as suppliers and taking action to bring to two together, anyone has the potential to be an entrepreneur. However Schumpeter has a contracting view, he sees the entrepreneur as an innovator. They bring about change but introduction something new. Nevertheless Peter Jones, a successful entrepreneur might agree with Kirzner, Entureprenuer are not born, they are made (Jones 2009). But Dr. Steve Gedeon of Ryerson University 2007, suggests that there are two types of entrepreneurs those whom start their own business venture and those whom Innovate within a corporate framework to add value to a company. By bring these views together it can be concluded that an entrepreneur is a person who undertakes, operates or proposes a new business venture. This usually takes place with an innovative mind set of introducing new or existing product/service into a new or existing market. It is usually found that an individual would not make this move without a significant befit. Infopreneur vs. Entrepreneur Just doing a simple search for infopreneur through the infopreneurial site of Google a user can find statement like: everyone is an expert in something make money from what you know on the other hand if a search is preformed regarding entrepreneurs you gain a list of famous entrepreneurs. There is no set of rules to follow to become a profitable entrepreneur. As Bill Gates states in recent article, The Internet makes the world simpler. For businesses, the Internet breaks down logistical barriers, offering greater flexibility and power in the way they do business. The language of the Internet is universal and easily grasped, any business can create products and services that make use of it. (Gates 2007) With the use of the internet escalating and becoming past of our day to day lives can the entrepreneur really survive? The following will discuss some of the challenges that both parties face: Old world rules vs. new world rules The entrepreneurs work with old world rules of business consisted of companies buying from suppliers, they create a physical product and sell these products through stores/outlets. Customers visit these to buy the products, this is governed by law. While the infopreneur has a new set of rules where by they present information that may not have to be purchased, it is a digital product that is on the internet. For example anyone can set up a blog and start to make money, Gina Garrubbo, executive vice president of BlogHer, There are millions of dollars to be made, (Shiels, 2008). Creating a blog if free, all the writer needs to do is to add an advertising service such as Google adsence, which displays targeted text and ads dependent on the blog context. The writer then receives money for reader click on the ads (Marshall, 2009). Customers never have to leave their home to access or buy the digital product/information, is some case the customer may ever set the price they wish to pay for the product. For example Jay Walkers invention of Priceline, invites users to name the price they want to pay for a variety of goods from hotels to airlines. (Price, 2000) Infopreneurs also benefit from the fact that the new world is not governed by heavy laws. It is clear to see that these rules matter when looking upon entrepreneurs and Infopreneurs as it can be seen that an entrepreneur plays to the old rules of business, added value by transforming a physical product and the infopreneur uses the new, business added value by transforming information. In the old world of business it is expected to see suppliers, customers, competitors and substitutes feeding into the business. For example Michael Dell an entrepreneur who revolutionized the personal computer industry but simple eliminating the middle man, has suppliers like Intel, competitors such as HP and Acer and rival substitutes of retail companies of PC world and Comet (Allen, 2002). However when looking upon the new world, not all exist in the business environment. It has been observed that suppliers are occasionally absent in the new world rules therefore making a dramatic impacted on the running cost. For example EBay simple acts as the middle man by bring customer and seller together, they have no suppliers (Price, 2000). Without suppliers the business has little to no out going cost leaving the business owner with considerable more income. The legal/Illegal battle In recent time it has been seen that the law is clamping down on cyberspace, for example Pirate bay is one of the most high profile file sharing web sites. It was set up in 2003 with millions of files being transferred everyday. The creators of the site have always denied breaking any copyright laws however they have just been sentenced to one year prison sentences and ordered to pay ÂÂ £3 m in damages (BBC, 2009). The creators ague that the site dose nothing more that Google dose and simply directs users to location where information/files can be found. The story of Pirate bay could be a starting block of the way the internet could be governed in the future. Cyberlaws could crash the industry for some Infopreneurs. For example, Bloggers could now face publicising laws if they refuse to publish correctly, it will affect anyone who post or publish anything on the internet. Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw said Existing defamation law needs to be updated so it is fit for the modern age, and it is important we listen to views on the best way to achieve this. Freedom to hold and express opinions is a right that is vital to democracy, as is respect for the rights and freedoms of others. How these principles are balanced in the fast-changing internet age is a fascinating debate. Infopreneurs may think twice before entering the new world of the internet age, with big organization like these and also Yahoo facing court tribunals, A French judge has ruled that the US Internet Service Provider Yahoo! Inc must make it impossible for French users to access sites auctioning race hate memorabilia (BBC, 2000). Plus Web search giant Google faces a court case in Switzerland because of privacy concerns over its Street View service (BBC, 2009) It may not be a matter of if but when more cyberlaws come in to action as these governing bodies show there power to direct the future of the internet. The internet age The Internet has a revolutionary impactindividuals and businesses can overcome geographical, cultural and logistical barriers and improve the way they live and work. (Gates, 2007) as Bill Gates state the internet has open doors to us all. Business can be set up with just a few clicks of a mouse and customers never have to leave the comfort of their homes to access products and services online. This is now a well know term as the internet age. The world never sleeps and trading taking place online 24/7 within the global market of anytime anyplace anywhere (Louise Proddow 2000). September figures show that there is a staggering 1,733,993,741of internet users world wide (Internet Usage Statistics, 2009). As the use of the internet ever increasing the infopreneur business is growing as they are able utilize this every expanding market. The old world business of the entrepreneur has to significantly innovation to serve in the internet age. For example existing and well established entrepreneurs from the TV show Dragons Den, access new revenue streams by investing in innovative entrepreneur s and Infopreneurs, mentoring and acting as the middle man then benefit from the return on investment. There are using there knowledge to teach other on how to be a successful entrepreneur by doing this enforcing the options of Kirzner. The internet ages appeals to the business nature of the infopreneur by offering a global customer base with very little investment needed. If you already have a computer and word processing program, biggest investment is likely to be your time (Chandler, 2007). A few clicks the infopreneur has a global business however it could take a number of years for the entrepreneur to gain global visibility. In a recent article a BBC writer discussed how the internet could kill the high street, with smaller overheads than its High Street rivals. Internet businesses may have a better chance of surviving a deep recession than some of the big retail names. Shops selling electronic goods, books and music will find it ever harder to compete. The economics of the long tail, where web operators can make money by offering a vast selection of goods that no single store can accommodate, may now prove irresistible. Google tallering services to the end user. The online retail industry body reported that this year there was a 34 per cent increase in online shopping last year. Conclusion People from all ages and backgrounds have the opportunity to set up and run a successful online business. (Pickell, 2009) As stated previously, entrepreneurs need extensive amounts of funding but in contrast, infopreneur have virtually no risk or endless amounts of set up costs they can setup and start running a business in just a few clicks on a mouse. The infopreneur business is also nondependent on graphical location, their website is visible to the world but it could be aguwed that a entrepreneurs However it needs to be considered where the internet is going. As Kevin Kelly states at the 2007 EG conference, the world wide wed is only 5,000 days olds how can we predict what will happen in the next 5,000 days? Infopreneur are almost depend on entrepreneurs to dictate this as with out entrepreneurs like Tim Berners-Lee (the inventor of the WWW) and Bill Gates there would be no market place for Infopreneurs to function in. There are no laws that govern online activities yet they are rule to govern physical business that are set up by entrepreneurs. References Peter Jones 2009 [online] Entrepreneurs are not born, they are taught The skills needed to turn ideas into commercial successes must be taught in school says the Dragons Dens Peter Jones Comments (1) Buzz up! Digg it Peter Jones The Guardian, Tuesday 6 October 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/06/dragons-den-peter-jones Dr. Steve Gedeon of Ryerson University 2007 [online] KIMBALL, Ralph and ROSS, Margy (2002). The data warehouse toolkit: the complete guide to dimensional modeling. 2nd ed., New York, Wiley. DEAKINS, David and FREEL, Mark (2003) Entrepreneurship and Small Firms. 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill Education, UK

The Downside of Facebook :: Social Networking, Social Network

While social media has made connecting and communicating with anyone at any time as easy as pie, it also has altered teen’s social skills and behaviors. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have proven to be great tools to expedite the development of empathy, encourage task-switching or even bring somewhat shy individuals a little more out of their shells. However, social media sites have also fostered a host of psychological and behavioral problems. â€Å"Cognitive development is still maturing during the teen years and the introduction of these types of online outlets can act as a platform for teenagers to speak their minds without facing peers directly,† said Amy Grosso, PhD, a counselor. â€Å"This can result in negative consequences, such as bullying, narcissism, depression, distractibility and anxiety.† Teens also may struggle with real-life social interactions if most of their communication has been conducted through a screen rather than in person, Grosso said. She suggests parents take the following steps to reduce the risk of teens experiencing the negative effects of social media: