ENGLISH

Ancient Philosophical Poetics

By Malcolm Heath

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2012
ISBN
0521198798, 9780521198790
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (1916792 bytes)
Series
Key Themes in Ancient Philosophy
Pages
206\206
Time added
2013-03-24 12:44:53

Description

What is poetry? Why do human beings produce and consume it? What effects does it have on them? Can it give them insight into truth, or is it dangerously misleading? This book is a wide-ranging study of the very varied answers which ancient philosophers gave to such questions. An extended discussion of Plato's Republic shows how the two discussions of poetry are integrated with each other and with the dialogue's central themes. Aristotle's Poetics is read in the context of his understanding of poetry as a natural human behaviour and an intrinsically valuable component of a good human life. Two chapters trace the development of the later Platonist tradition from Plutarch to Plotinus, Longinus and Porphyry, exploring its intellectual debts to Epicurean, allegorical and Stoic approaches to poetry. It will be essential reading for classicists as well as ancient philosophers and modern philosophers of art and aesthetics.

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