Essay On Mimesis On Art

Mimesis is arguably the oldest and most widely held view on the nature of art. The mimicry of nature is involved in art making. What is mimesis exactly? Is it imitation, mirroring, perceptual equivalence, counterfeiting, idealization or representation?

From Plato’s The Republic to Aristotle’s Poetics, both philosophers disagree greatly about the value of art in the human society but they have different views. Plato focuses in the objective and purpose of art and questions its value. On the other hand, Aristotle focuses on the process of art and its seemingly natural place in life and the world.

In Plato’s view, art was essentially deceptive and mainly concerned with sensual pleasure. Furthermore, Plato thinks that art was psychologically destabilizing for each individual person and that art leads to immorality. Hence, art was politically dangerous and pose as a threat to the human society. Plato stated in The Republic that an imitation is at three removes from the reality or the truth of something and poets and other artists would represent the gods in many inappropriate ways. Plato continued that a good imitation could undermine the stability of human beings by making us feel sad, depressed and sorrow about life itself.

In Aristotle’s view, art was not potentially dangerous for several reasons. Aristotle thinks that art was essentially truthful and it is mainly concerned with sensual pleasure, which to Aristotle is a good thing. While Plato thinks that art was psychologically destabilizing for each individual person, Aristotle did not agree to it, Aristotle thinks that art was psychologically healthy and it also leads to moral knowledge. Thus, art was politically necessary and healthy. Aristotle stated in The Poetics that ...

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...s imitation. Plato gives very good examples on poets and painters and makers. Imitators can only have one speciality; they do not possessed two different skills. For example, a poet or a performer. When one person started to recite or perform, it means that the person is ready to imitate someone or anything, like producing sound of some musical instruments, e.g., drum, through your voice, all these consist imitation of certain things. These are the way of “speaking” by the performer or poets. In terms of music, Plato feels that there are three parts in a song or an ode. The three parts are namely, the words, melody and the rhythms. Plato stated that words, or rather lyrics are the most important of all. The words or lyrics will influence the melody and rhythm. Words are the main element in a song or an ode. Words in a song can determine the harmony of the song.