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Plato's Simile Of The Cave: Artist's Work Is Based On Illusion - Papers

Plato's Simile Of The Cave: Artist's Work Is Based On Illusion

There are many ways people view art. To an observer it may be perceived as inventive, searching, disturbing, or self-expressive. Art not only phases the way people think and understand but it may also affect a lifestyle. Plato creates a new consciousness, a way of living in uniformation; moreover, in The Simile of the Cave he implies that the artist’s work is based on an illusion, or what an artist thinks is a reality or state of mind.
Through harsh criticisms Plato is accusatorial towards artists proclaiming that they are morally weak because not all art work is censored or exemplifies the Christian lifestyle as Plato would have it. As it suggests in Iris Murdoch’s The Fire and the ...

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artists imitate what is bad they are adding to the sum of badness in the world; and it is easier to copy a bad man than a good man, because the bad man is various and entertaining and extreme, while the good man is quiet and always the same.
Artists are interested in what is base and complex, not in what is simple and good. They induce the better part of the soul to ‘relax its guard’. Thus images of wickedness and excess may lead even good people to indulge secretly through art feelings which they would be ashamed to entertain in real life. We enjoy cruel jokes and bad taste in the theater, then behave boorishly at home. Art both expresses and gratifies the lowest part of the soul, and feeds and enlivens base emotions which ought to be left to wither. This may lead one to the question: Is being bad more fun than being good?
Plato is a harsh critic; however, he is not completely scornful towards the artist. Plato and Tolstoy believe that art is good only when it is served ...

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Plato's Simile Of The Cave: Artist's Work Is Based On Illusion. (2007, October 20). Retrieved December 4, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Platos-Simile-Cave-Artists-Work-Based/73020

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 10/20/2007 06:03:03 PM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Free Paper
Words: 779
Pages: 3

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