essay on the view of aristotle in art?
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In the Poetics, Aristotle discusses the nature of poetry and its relation to human nature. Today this is what we would call aesthetics. Unlike Plato, Aristotle believes that art is not completely cut off from knowledge. He believes that imitation,[1] and thus art, has a fundamental active relationship to human nature. In the Metaphysics, Aristotle says that all men by nature desire to know.[2] By nature, everything desires its own perfection. And since man is what he is because of his intellect, men naturally desire knowledge.[3] Further, each thing has an inclination to perform its proper operation. Man differs from all other things by the fact that his proper operation is to understand,[4] and therefore man has a natural inclination to understand. Note that the fact that many men do not devote their time and effort to the science of knowledge does not disprove the fact that they desire to know. For they are prevented from the pursuit of their desire due to its difficulty or by their being held back by other occupations, needs, or even by the seduction of pleasures. Laziness pervades the human species.
The fact that all men desire to know is why they enjoy poetry. Plato had said that poetry is an art of imitation, and its product is three removed from the real one.[5] Because of this, Plato believes that art cannot contain truth, nor can it lead us to any kind of truth. However, Aristotle holds that this can’t be the case, for the delight we have from imitation coincides with our delight in learning itself. Taking Avicenna’s analogy, we might justify Aristotle’s claim by saying that art aims at a single or defined end according to nature, as nature also aims at a single and defined end.[6]
Before going into intense details, the following question should be addressed: what are the causes that make humans create poetry in the first place? There are two causes that are the source of the human creation of poetry. First, there is man’s pleasure of imitation, for imitation is an essential aspect of human development from youth. This is an essential aspect that differentiates humans from lower animals, for they are not capable of learning from imitation to the extent that man is.[7] Because man has such an intimate relation to imitation, he also has an intimate relation to teaching in general, for imitation is an essential part of teaching. As Avicenna says:
When gesture and expression are combined, the meaning conveyed makes a vivid impression on the soul…an evidence that imitation is delightful is that men are pleased by contemplating the portrayed forms of hateful and disgusting animals which they would avoid if seen in actuality. What is delightful is not the form itself not what is portrayed but its being a precise imitation of something else. For this reason, learning is pleasant not to philosophers alone but to common people due to the imitation that is in it, and because learning consists of a certain representation of a thing in the “seat” of the soul.[8] Men, therefore, find great delight in portrayed forms if they can well relate these to their originals. If they have not perceived them before, their pleasure would not be complete, but approximate; in this case, they delight in the form itself—its manner, composition, and so forth.[9]
The second cause is the natural love man has for harmony in melodies and all combinations. Poetry making is therefore directly related to man’s natural inclinations, which are also essentially connected with man’s predisposition for learning. Thus, that which brings about poetry and art in man is no more of an illusion that his thirst and acquisition of knowledge. In fact, the making of poetry originates in man’s natural instinct and talent.
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