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Comparison Between Aristotle and Plato on Mimesis

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iA comparison between Aristotle and Plato on mimesis
1. Introduction
Mimesis, as a controversial concept starting from the 15th century, is among the oldest terms in literature and artistic theory, and is certainly among the most fundamental. Developing centuries, the concept of mimesis has been explored and reinterpreted by scholars in various academic fields. The word “Mimesis” developed from the root mimos, noun designating both a person who imitates and a specific genre of performance based on the limitation of stereotypical character traits. Very little is known about “mimesis” until the ancient Greek Philosopher Plato provided the first and unquestionably the most influential account of mimesis. In his wide-ranging work of the …show more content…

The first three chapters of the Poetics make a distinction among the media, the objects and the manner of mimesis for the different representation of arts. In each case, Aristotle modifies a distinction from Plato, or introduces a distinction where Plato fails to make one. The medium of imitation concerns the “materials” each art uses to represent people and objects. For Plato, poetry and painting, epic and tragedy are essentially the same in their imitation of the real because they are all imitative works. Aristotle, by contrast, differentiate arts by the material they employ, like painters use figure or color, musicians melody and rhythm, and poets rhythm and meter. These arts all mimetic, but they imitate with different tools, or use the same tools in different combinations. Therefore, rather than being a mere imitator, the artist is a maker, a craftsman. Also, Aristotle points out that many works use the same media as poetry does, but are not for that reason becomes poems: Greek medical and scientific treatises were typically written in poetic meters, but the mere use of meter does not entitle the scientists “poet”. Thus, it is the imitation that makes the poet, not the rhetorical form of the work. Though imitative, poetry has its own proper methods and aims, not just a diminished version of science of philosophy.

2.2.3 Objects of imitation Aristotle considered that the objects of imitation are man in action, a notion

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