Platonic View on Arts and Aesthetics

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When I was a child, I used to be very involved in arts; I liked drawing pictures in my spare times. I always had a pleasant time when I drew things around me and used many colors in my paintings. I started to love Art since kindergarten, yet my passion on it has dwindled a bit recently. Nevertheless, I still regard art as a powerful object that can significantly influence our mind and behavior. Nowadays, people commonly use art for political campaigns, advertising, promotion, or even propaganda. Furthermore, we can also see that some great paintings, statues, and other artifacts (from classic to modern) gave many influences to the society especially behavioral influence. The beauty within each of those artworks could easily blow us away. However, although they are beautiful and adorable things, sometimes artworks can be deceptive and tricky. Plato, one of the greatest philosophers of ancient world, had some concerns on this issue. He regarded art as a “devilish” thing that can give negative effects to society. Plato stands on both sides when it comes to arts and aesthetics (the philosophical study of the arts). He showed both his passion and hostility toward these subjects at the same time. On one hand, he seemed to love arts as he often talked about them in his books or lectures, and also attentive to everything related to them. In addition, his writing style could be regarded as a form of art. Many people from his era admired his beautiful writings, and some of his papers are truly masterpieces. On the other hand, he also mentioned that arts are deceptive and could be threatening to society. During his time, he sent many poems and plays out of his ideal society (his ideal Republic), and he also wanted music and paintings to be severely censored. Thus, in order to protect ideal citizens for an ideal society, he believed that the arts must be strictly

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