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Why did Plato deny poets entry into his Utopia?

Reason:

Plato said this in "The Republic": "Suppose a wise man had the ability to imitate any thing, disguise or shape. , if he came to our city, and proposed to show us his body and his poetry, we would regard him as a magical and pleasant personage, and bow to him; but we would also tell him, There is no one like him in our city, and the law does not allow there to be a person like him. Then he put perfume on him, put on a hair crown, and invited him to go to the neighboring city." This passage is considered to be evidence that Plato wants to expel the poet from the "Utopia" and expresses an unfriendly attitude towards the poet.

Plato is a philosopher. To be precise, he should be a political philosopher. Plato's parents came from prominent families, and several of his relatives were also prominent figures in politics. He grew up in a wealthy and leisurely family, and received a good aristocratic education since childhood. In his youth, Plato had the lofty ambition to engage in political struggle. He hoped to transform his philosophy into political practice and realize his "philosophical king" "The ruling ideal. But he was unlucky. Plato failed several times when he tried to enter politics. Once he was sold as a slave and auctioned off. Fortunately, a friend redeemed him before he returned to Athens. But these failures did not weaken Plato's enthusiasm for politics. Until his later years, in his quiet lecturing life, he still paid great attention to politics. However, many of his philosophies directly addressed the political issues of the time. His "Ideal" "State" and "Laws" are a blueprint for the "state of justice" he designed.

Because of this characteristic of Plato’s philosophy, he often looked at poetry and literature from a narrow political perspective. He put forward various requirements for art from a political perspective, which made his art theory have a certain A strong atmosphere of political enlightenment. For example, Plato criticized the famous poet Homer in ancient Greece in every possible way and expressed his strong dissatisfaction. For him, Homer distorted the characters of gods and heroes by having them commit some of the most heinous crimes; Homer promoted the sentiments of weakness and fear of death in his poems, which was inappropriate for some warriors. Plato believes that imitation of poetry is the creation of illusions, and poetry is deception and lying. It provokes people's irrational impulses and desires, causing people to lose control. For these reasons, he issued a severe rebuke to the poets: "We would ask Homer and other poets not to be angry if we strike out these and similar passages, not because they are bad poems, nor because they are They are pleasing to ordinary people's ears, but because the more beautiful they are, the less suitable they are to be told to young people and adults who want to be free and would rather die than be slaves."

Plato accused Homer, It's because Homer's poems seriously harmed the interests of city-states, but there can be no misunderstanding here. Plato expelled poets from the Utopia because he wanted to cancel art itself. On the one hand, Plato pointed out various "disadvantages" in Homer's poems, but on the other hand, he made detailed regulations on how to write poetry, how it should be expressed, and what methods should be used. Plato was only a judge of literature and art, but not an opponent of art itself. After saying the passage quoted at the beginning of this article, Plato also said: "As for our city, we only need one kind of poet and storyteller, and his works must be good for us and must imitate only the language of good people. , and abide by some of the standards we originally set for the design and education of the defenders." Plato once made such a metaphor. If the defenders of a city-state are cultivated under the influence of ugly events, they are like cattle and sheep. It's the same thing that was raised in filth. Plato also believed that the way to eliminate these bad influences is to find some capable artists to depict the beautiful aspects of nature, so that young people can be exposed to some beautiful works every day, so that young people can grow up healthily. It can be seen that Plato attaches great importance to art education, and what he opposes is only artistic ideas that conflict with his political ideals.

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