PLATO VS ARISTOTLE PDF

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KENYATTA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF CREATIVE ARTS, FILM AND MEDIA ARTS DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND FILM TECHNOLOGY CTF 804: ADVANCED DRAMATIC THEORIES LECTURER: Dr. J.K.S. Makokha ASSIGNMENT BRIEF: Compare and contrast Aristotelian and Platonic views of literature, using their main ideas to provide the appl...

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KENYATTA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF CREATIVE ARTS, FILM AND MEDIA ARTS DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND FILM TECHNOLOGY

CTF 804: ADVANCED DRAMATIC THEORIES LECTURER: Dr. J.K.S. Makokha ASSIGNMENT BRIEF: Compare and contrast Aristotelian and Platonic views of literature, using their main ideas to provide the applicability of these views to the Theory of African Drama. NGIGI MUYA

M66/37893/2016

BRIAN THUO

M66/37895/2016

D.O. MURIUKI

M66/10453/2008

YEAR OF STUDY: January-MAY 2017 SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS (THEATRE ARTS AND FILM TECHNOLOGY) OF KENYATTA UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION

Plato and Aristotle are two towering figures that have shaped and influenced modern philosophy, science and literary arts. Plato was a student of Socrates and who in turn become a mentor and teacher to Aristotle circa the 4th century B.C. Their views and theories regarding the aesthetics of literature have continued to spark debate among many postmodernist literary critics. Plato and Aristotle have no doubt left an indelible mark in Classical literary studies in their two seminal works: Plato’s “The Republic” (381 B.C) and Aristotle’s “Poetics” (350 B.C). An analysis of these two works reveals an interesting philosophical dialectical relationship between teacher (Plato) and student (Aristotle). In the scope of critical literary studies, Plato and Aristotle, present arguments that question how reality is represented by Artists and the effect that Art has on society. Plato and Aristotle critique poetry and the effect it has on poets and their audiences and society. Plato from an idealistic deductive viewpoint depicted in dialogue format, and Aristotle, from a realistic, practical and inductive viewpoint in essay format. Both men disagree on the emotional effects poetry has on individuals and on society, but both agree that poetry does stimulate great emotion which has a lasting impact on individuals and society. This paper will analyse and evaluate the similarities and differences between Aristotelian and Platonic views of literature and interpret the applicability of these views to the Theory of African Drama. This paper will also investigate how elements of Classical Greek literature has influenced modern trends in African drama vis-à-vis how elements of traditional African drama had influenced western Literature.

1.0 BIOGRAPHY OF PLATO Plato was born around 428 B.C. in Athens to a wealthy family during the turbulent times of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. At an early age he was influenced by the works of Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno and Pythagoras. However, it is Socrates who had the greatest influence as a teacher and mentor to Plato, evident not only in many of the doctrines and arguments we find in Plato's dialogues, but perhaps most obviously in Plato's choice of Socrates as the main character in most of his works. Plato founded one of the earliest known organized schools in

Western Civilization called the “Academy” and died around 347 B.C.

1.1 PLATO’S PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS Plato thought a lot about the natural world and how it works. He thought that everything had a sort of “ideal form”, like the idea of a chair, and then an actual chair was a sort of poor imitation of the ideal chair that exists only in your mind. Plato’s “Theory of Forms” is a tentative argument in his philosophical views about representation of Art. One of the ways Plato tried to explain his ideas was with the famous “Allegory of the Cave”. He argues: suppose there is a cave and inside the cave there are some men chained up to a wall so that they can only see the back wall of the cave and nothing else except shadows from outside the cave. Wouldn't these prisoners come to think that the shadows were real and that was what things really looked like? Suppose now that one of the men escaped and got out of the cave and saw what real people looked like and real trees and grass. If he went back to the cave and told the other men what he had seen, would they believe him or would they think he was crazy?

In his theory of Mimesis, Plato argues that all art is mimetic by nature; art is an imitation of life. He believed that ‘idea’ is the ultimate reality. Art imitates idea and so it is imitation of reality. He gives an example of a carpenter and a chair. The idea of “chair” first came in the mind of carpenter. He gave physical shape to his idea out of wood and created a chair. The painter imitated the chair of the carpenter in his picture of chair. Thus, painter’s chair is twice removed from reality. Hence, Plato believed that art is twice removed from reality.

1.2 PLATO’S CRITIQUE ON ART

In Book II of “The Republic”, Plato begins a discussion of poetry which is concerned with gods and heroes. He condemns much of this poetry as lies, “and still further because their lies are not attractive” (Republic, II, p24). According to Plato, stories are not imitations of any reality but are outright falsities, on the grounds that since gods and heroes are by definition better than men, they cannot perform such atrocious acts as shown for example in the works of Homer and Aeschylus. Such depictions provide justification for men to commit such acts themselves and therefore these misrepresentations of gods and heroes are harmful to society. Plato objected to poetry on three grounds: 

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Plato’s objection to Poetry from an Educational point of view. In “The Republic- Book II”, he condemns poetry as fostering evil habits and vices in children. Plato’s objection to Poetry from a Philosophical point of view. In “The Republic- Book X”, Plato claims that Poetry does not lead to, but drives us away from the realization of the ultimate reality- the Truth. Furthermore, Plato argues that Philosophy is better than poetry because Philosophy deals with idea and poetry is twice removed from original idea. Plato also espouses the notion that “The imitator or maker of the image knows nothing of true existence; he knows appearance only”.

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Plato’s objection to Poetry from a Moral point of view. In “The Republic”, Plato states that the soul of man has higher principles of reason, which is the essence of its being, as well as lower constituted of basic impulses and emotions. Plato further argues: “Then the imitative poet who aims at being popular is not by nature made, nor is his art intended, to please or to affect the rational principle in the soul; but he will prefer the passionate and fitful temper, which is easily limited. And therefore we shall be right in refusing to admit him into a well-ordered state, because he awakens and nourishes and strengthen the feelings and impairs the reason… Poetry feeds and waters the passion instead of drying them up; she lets them rule, although they ought to be controlled, if mankind are ever to increase in happiness and virtue.”

Plato believed that Art (in the form of poetry) was useless, potentially dangerous to a society, psychologically destabilizing, pleases the senses and not the intellect, a misguided illusion of reality and immoral. He viewed artists as being deceptive and “subtle thinkers who are beggars afterall”.

2.0 BIOGRAPHY OF ARISTOTLE Aristotle was born circa 384 B.C. in Stagira, a small seaport town on the northern coast of Greece to a wealthy family. In Athens, Aristotle enrolled in Plato’s prestigious Academy and proved an exemplary scholar. In 338 B.C., Aristotle went to Macedonia to start tutoring King Phillip II’s son, Alexander the Great. Aristotle started his own school in Athens, called the Lyceum where he spent most of the remainder of his life working as a teacher, researcher and writer until his demise in 322 B.C.

2.1 ARISTOTLE’S PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS One of the main premises of Aristotle’s philosophy was his systematic concept of logic. Aristotle’s objective was to come up with a universal process of reasoning that would allow man to learn every conceivable thing about reality. The initial process involved describing objects based on their characteristics, states of being and actions. Aristotle rejected Plato’s “Theory of Forms”. Instead, he argued that forms are intrinsic to the objects and cannot exist apart from them, and so must be studied in relation to them. From his perspective, logic and reasoning was the chief instrument of scientific investigation.

Aristotle makes a distinction between the political and the aesthetic world. The reality in the two is not the same. The reality called “history” – that is, a recording of real facts or happenings is not what literature (poetry) claims to record. The world of literature constitutes of an alternate aesthetic reality. Thus, Aristotle created this break or separation between philosophical and aesthetic works. For example, he claims that art and philosophy deal with different kinds of truth; philosophy deals with concrete and absolute truth, whereas art deals with aesthetic and universal truth.

The difference between mimetic poetry and history is stated as ‘one (history) writes about what has actually happened, while the other (poetry) deals with what might happen’. Therefore, the function of poetry is not to portray what has happened but to portray what may have happened in accord with the principle of probability (chance) and necessity. Since poetry deals with universal truth and history considers only particular facts; poetry is more philosophical and deserves more serious attention.

2.2 ARISTOTLE’S CRITIQUE ON ART Aristotle views on Art are more logical and pragmatic. According to him, poetry is an imitation of an action. In “The Poetics” Aristotle examines poetry on its own terms; he pays much more attention to such aspects as genres and specific metres than did Plato. Like Plato, however, he considers all art as a form of mimesis (imitation). In “The Poetics” Chapter IV, Aristotle claims that “man is very imitative and obtains his first knowledge by imitation, and then everybody takes pleasure in imitation”. (Poetics, IV, p72). Aristotle refutes Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” by arguing that the obvious solution is to walk out of the cave and experience what is casting light and shadows directly, rather than relying solely on indirect or internal experiences.

Aristotle replied to the arguments made by his teacher Plato against Poetry in particular and art in general. He replied to them one by one in defense of poetry by stating: 

The artist does not simply reflect the real in the manner of a mirror. Art is not a mere slavish imitation of reality. Literature is not the photographic reproduction of life in all its totality. It is the representation of selected events and characters necessary in a coherent action for the realization of artist’s purpose.

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The function of art is to provide aesthetic delight, communicate experience, express emotions and represent life. It should ever be confused with the function of ethics which is simply to teach morality. If an artist succeeds in pleasing us in aesthetic sense, they are a good artist.

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We cannot fairly maintain that music is bad because it does not paint, or that painting is bad because it does not sing. Similarly, we cannot say that poetry is bad because it does not teach philosophy of ethics.

Aristotle agrees with Plato in calling the poet an imitator and creative art, imitation. They imitate one of the three objects; things as they were (or are), things as they are said (or thought) to be or things as they ought to be. Therefore Art imitates what is past or present, what is commonly believed and what is ideal. Aristotle believes that there is natural pleasure in imitation which is an in-born instinct in men. It is this pleasure in imitation that enables the child to learn his earliest lessons in speech and conduct from those around him, because there is a pleasure in doing so. Aristotle disagrees with Plato’s on the notion that Art is twice removed from reality and hence a distortion of truth. Aristotle does not agree with Plato in function of poetry to make people weaker and emotional/too sentimental. For him, catharsis is satisfying and humbles human beings. So far as moral nature of poetry is concerned, Aristotle believed that the end of poetry is to please; however, teaching may be given. Such pleasing is superior to the other pleasure because it teaches civic morality. So all good literature gives pleasure, which is not divorced from moral lessons. Hence, according to Aristotle good Art is not useless, it is natural, educational and teaches truth.

2.2 ARISTOTLE’S VIEWS ON TRAGEDY Aristotle considered tragedy to be the greatest form of poetic performance. He defined tragedy as: “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in the language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation-catharsis of these and similar emotions”.

According to Aristotle, tragedy consisted of these elements:  

The plot is the soul of literary imitation. A good plot should have a beginning, middle and Which object of life is imitated determines the form of literature. If the life of a great person is depicted it will make that work a Tragedy and if the life of ordinary people is depicted it will make the work a comedy.

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What sort of medium is used to imitate life again determines the forms of different arts. When words are used, how they are used and in what manner or metre they are used further classifies a piece of literature in different categories as a tragedy, comedy or an epic.

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In what manner the imitation of life is presented distinguishes the one form of literature from another. For example, dramas are always presented in action while epics are always in narration.

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The unity of action: a play should have one single plot or action to sustain the interest of the spectators and it can also lead him to proper purgation.

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The unity of time: the action in a play should not exceed the single revolution of the sun. The unity of place: a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.

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Narrative plots are made complex by reversal (peripeteia) and recognition (anagnorisis). Peripeteia is a sudden change (e.g. from good to bad) while anagnorisis is the transformation from ignorance to knowledge in the context of the tragic hero.

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Best plots avoid deus ex machina solutions e.g. divine intervention.

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The Tragic Hero exhibits Hubris (defect in character e.g. pride), which leads to Hamartia (tragic flaw), which precipitates Nemesis (retribution) and ends with the catastrophe (e.g. death).

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A good tragedy evokes pity and fear on an audience (reader) which leads to the concept of catharsis. A catharsis allows the flushing of emotions and can even result in the clarification of moral, ethical and intellectual beliefs.

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A tragedy has six parts: Plot, Character, Diction, Thought (or theme), Melody and Spectacle.

2.3 SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PLATO AND ARISTOTLE Both Plato and Aristotle based their theories on four widely accepted beliefs of the time; knowledge must be of what is real, the world experienced via the senses is what is real, knowledge must be of what is fixed and unchanging, the world experienced via the senses is not fixed and unchanging.

Aristotle agrees with Plato that the poet himself must be insane or else a genius to produce proper work. Plato and Aristotle both use their definitions of ‘form’ to overcome their relative problems with knowledge. Form for both philosophers is able to classify all things; chairs are chairs because they reflect the form of a chair.

3.0 PLATO, ARISTOTLE AND THEORY OF AFRICAN DRAMA It is a disputable fact that drama or what we call theatre did not evolve from Hellenistic civilization. Books written on the history of drama and theatre often credit ancient Greece as the innovators of drama and literary criticism. Ruth Finnegan, in her book “Oral Literature in Africa” (1970) has argued that "though some writers have very positively affirmed the existence of 'native' African drama, it would perhaps be truer to say that in Africa, in contrast to Western Europe and Asia, drama is not typically a wide spread or developed form".

Plato and Aristotle have no doubt left major contributions in the aesthetics of literary works. Furthermore, Africa is recently emerging from the dark windfalls of Colonialization and Imperialism, during which, African modes of education and entertainment were altogether suppressed or punitively abolished. This hybridization of African culture resulted in literature that was fused with Eurocentric values and presented to Africa as modern Literature which often domiciled indigenous African performances and Art.

In general, Theatre can be defined as an activity where an actor takes a role through mime, speech and action (e.g. dance) to convey a message to an audience. Traditional African drama does not need a proscenium stage nor the intricacies of stage lighting to depict dramatic performances. It is a fallacy to try and pidgin-hole traditional African drama with the concepts of Classical, Elizabethan, Victorian or Bretch drama.

Traditional African drama preceded Plato and Aristotle’s principles of Theatre. African drama is an integrated element of African civilizations and culture. African performances engages the

whole society. The storyteller or narrator is like a griot that holds the secrets of the community by embedding moral and ethical values in their drama. Hence, as envisaged by Aristotle, African drama has a didactic value which aims to educate members of the community.

African drama also exhibits esoteric and metaphysical elements which help to reinforce the values and beliefs of African society. Just like the Dionysian festivals of Antiquity Greece, Africans have from time immemorial reenacted dramatic performances that give tribute to deity. The only difference between the two is that traditional African literature has not been documented in written form due to the prevalence of oral narratology.

Plato’s views on “Mimesis”, offers no tangible nor pragmatic meaning to the ideals of African drama. This is because African drama engages the audience to participate in the narrative where important values, beliefs and ethics are conveyed to the society. However, African drama can exists in a fruitful dialectical relationship with the principles of Aristotelian drama. For example, writers like Ngugi wa Thiongo and Wole Soyinka, who have reverted to African forms of dramatic performance, have retained elements of Hellenistic drama, for example, using techniques likes Aristotle’s elements of Plot, Character, Theme, Melody and Spectacle.

African drama needs to exist in its own landscape free from the intrusions of Platonic and Aristotelian views of drama. In fact, Classical and modern western drama can engage and learn many elements of African drama. For example, I would argue against Aristotle, who sidelines Music as an inferior element in a tragedy. African drama embellishes the use of music and dance in delivering a dramatic performance full of colour, texture and meaning.

CONCLUSION Plato and Aristotle have no doubt left an indelible mark in Classical literary studies in their two seminal works: Plato’s “The Republic” (381 B.C) and Aristotle’s “Poetics” (350 B.C). An analysis of these two works reveals an interesting philosophical dialectical relationship between teacher (Plato) ...