PHL 504 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Epic Poetry, Organic Unity, Forego
25 Mar 2015
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Problems with poetry/ prosecution: poetry is an imitation of an imitation > being mimetic, poetry cant give us knowledge, can"t learn anything valuable, being mimetic, poetry appeals to and strengthens appetites, upsetting the soul"s balance. No, but this isn"t plato"s claim, his claim is that poetry has this subtle effect on our souls. The marshmallow test: place a kid in a room with a marshmallow, tell them if they wait, they can get another one. Followed the kids as they grew up, looked at sat scores, drug problems, career success measures of wellbeing. Father was a doctor: moved to athens when he was 16-17 to study at plato"s school the academy; stayed for 20 years, after plato died, went to find his own school, the lyceum. Came from a different generation than plato; never knew socrates > doesn"t have the same baggage as plato. Sees that there"s an affinity between poetry and philosophy.
