Analysis Of Ion In His Ion

Plato accounts for the discussion between the famous philosopher, Socrates, and the skilled rhapsode, Ion in his Ion. The two explore an abstract idea that, during primitive times, was controversial and arose in many conversations as useless and unappreciated. This idea of art carries through the text as Socrates mocks Ion, along with all the other rhapsodes and artists, regarding their “untruthful” and “unskillful” profession. He calls them “light and winged and sacred things” that are “unable ever to indite until he has been inspired and put out of his senses” while breaking down his theory to Ion (534b). But Plato really presents the point of his view when he states “rhapsodes and actors, and the men whose poems they chant, are wise; whereas

Plato uses Socrates as tools to expose his beliefs on art and express how he feels about it 's effect on society. Socrates touches on the topic of truth a couple times before finally confronting Ion and how it relates back to him, which gets the ball rolling and Ion begins seeing his point, but failing to acknowledge his questions with clear answers. The Socratic dialogue form that Plato uses is useful in the fact that we get to see Ion’s viewpoint veer towards realizing the drawbacks of being a rhapsode and not a general as he was previously. Plato is brilliant, in that he leads people to question themselves through the questions he posses. He forces not only Ion, but also the audience to question what they haveve been thinking up until this point about art. His intend audience would have been the pre-Socratic society that enjoyed and respected poetry and art. These people were now being challenged by Socrates, who viewed the art they loved as fake imitations of something real, to think logically and reduce the abstract. Plato was strategic in including passages like this because it could now spark a different thought process in these people and even the

I felt as though his argument was more focused around his theory of forms, imitation and divinity possession. After my second time around, skimming and picking through the text I realized the passage and it stuck. Plato, being such a logical thinker, hates when there is a mass amount of people who can not think logically and are fixed on things that are not real and truthful to reality. Despite the fact that his argument having some faults, Socrates hit the nail head-on when breaking down why art is technically untruthful. The artist did not invent or construct the couch that he painted and the poet is not the character he is playing, therefore they are deceiving society. I do, however, disagree with his argument on the skill required to produce a single work of art. He claims that artist just imitate skill. I believe otherwise because in order for art to actually be enjoyed, the skill imitated, has to be executed with skill, so skill is required. Poets require an insane amount of skill to assume a role and provoke emotions out of the audience. Artists require skill to produce realism that gives the audience that athetic experience. So yes, art may not be truthful, but it is produced with