Erotikós Lógos. A Revaluation of Poetry in Plato's Philosophy

Abstract

Poetry is a problem in Plato’s philosophy. It is three times removed from the truth (Rep. 597e7), deprived of skill or craft (Ion 533d2), even a damage to human rationality (Laws 719c). The problem becomes poignant enough so as for Plato to devote the last pages of the Republic, his most famous dialogue, to expel all poets from the ideal city. But the expulsion is not unconditional (Rep. 607c-608a). What is, then, what qualifies Socrates’ banishment? Why is Socrates, like the lover waiting for his improbable love to regret (607e4-608a1), willing to have poetry back? This thesis argues that Plato had good reasons, in his paedeutic and erotic theories, to readmit poetry. Poetry can educate the appetitive part of the soul to love the beautiful. As a moral likeness endorsed with sensual charms, “imitation to the hearing” (Rep. 603b8), poetry can grasp and educate beauty. As appearance-responsive and erotically driven, appetite can undergo poetic education. A reassessment of both poetry and the appetitive part of the soul is endeavored in this thesis, allowed by Plato’s erotic paideia. Consequently, in Platonic eros poetry ceases to be a philosophical problem.