Ancient philosophical poetics
By: Malcolm Heath
Series: Key themes in ancient philosophy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Cambridge, [England]; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 195
ISBN-13: 9780521198790; 9780521168687
Subjects: PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical; Philosophy, Ancient, in literature; Poetics; Philosophy; Language and languages; History
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"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: 1. Poetry: the roots of a problem; 2. A radical solution: Plato's Republic; 3. The natural history of poetry: Aristotle; 4. Ways to find truth in falsehood; 5. The marriage of Homer and Plato.