近日研习西方古典文论了，有机会和大家分享一下这些古代大家的思想。
1. As a student of Socrates, Plato has passed down much of Socrates’ philosophical thinking, quite different from the School of rhetoric which is more practical rather than theoretical.
2. Plato, like all other ancient Greek philosophers, is an “all-round” thinker, who thinks on all topics. Poiesis (the Greek word meaning “to make”) is also one of his concern in many areas to be discussed in his Republic. His theory of poesy is thoroughly examined in Books II, III and X.
3. Poetry is imitation (mimesis). “Poetical imitation imitates men performing actions either forced or voluntary….”
4. According to Plato, mimesis is the imitation of the “speech of a character directly reproduced,” while diegesis is a “narration of doings and sayings where ‘the poet speaks in his own person, and does not try to turn our attention in another direction by pretending that someone else is speaking.’ ” Thus, he distinguishes speech from narration, marking the earliest attempt for the object of narratology.
5. Plato’s three worlds: 1) world of Idea (sphere of underlying abstractions and pertaining to universal truth); 2) world of appearance (world of perceptual appearances); 3) world of art (represented by painting). In Plato’s understanding, the source of ultimate truth is in the world of Idea, of which the other two worlds are only shadows. The world of appearance is nothing but an “imperfect imitation” of the world of Idea (now the sphere of the reality of abstractions). The world of art is an imitation of the world of appearance (imitation of imitation) and further away from the truth and thus tells only lies, quite unlike philosophy which represents universal truth.
6. The poet “waters” the passions of his audience, leading them into madness, and thus should be driven out of the republic.
作为苏格拉底的学生，柏拉图继承了苏格拉底很多的哲学思想……
我懒得翻译了了，能看懂的就看吧。过几日想个可理解的汉语版的再说。
