Reading notebook: Plato, The Republic (selections)

"When both are there together -- beautiful manners in the soul, and in the bodily form what agrees and concords with these and is of the same type, would it not be the most beautiful sight for one who is able to see it?" (201)

Key words: imitation, form/idea, truth, good, usefulness, soul

Summary: Stories, fables, and so forth, are imitations, and therefore not strictly "true." However, even what is not "true" can still be "useful," so art is not entirely abolished in the ideal city, merely heavily censored. Only stories which are useful in accordance with the general rule of law in the city are to be allowed; likewise only art which takes as its medium strict narration, not imitation, is appropriate for the city, since art which uses imitation is at several levels of removal from the "actual" reality of the forms and is therefore useful for nothing but deceiving people.

Initial response: Plato is basically awful -- his arguments completely ignore the aspect of aesthetics in art and instead cling merely to a more or less arbitrary rule of what is "good" or "bad" for a city. As it turns out, what is "good" for the city is whatever keeps the extant system of power in place (which, however "ideal" the city is supposed to be, is something I have difficulty accepting) -- this is disguised under the language of a search for some ideal "truth" or "justice," but it is clear that this is a facade: even the "truth" is censored in this city, if it is not in accordance with the matrix of power: "even if these things were true, I did not think they ought to be just carelessly told before simple young people" (175). Furthermore, I am completely and utterly appalled by Plato's idealism and metaphysics, by his division between mind and body (which I find to be basically untenable), his system of forms/ideals, and his take on gender roles and differences. In conclusion: I really dislike Plato.