Images of Excellence: Plato's Critique of the Arts

by Christopher Janaway

This original new book argues for a reassessment of Plato's challenge to the arts. Plato was the first great figure in Western philosophy to assess the value of the arts; he argued in the Republic that traditionally accepted forms of poetry, drama, and music are unsound. While this view has been widely rejected, Janaway argues that Plato's hostile case is a more coherent and profound challenge to the arts than has sometimes been supposed. Denying that Plato advocates "good art" in any modern sense, Janaway seeks both to understand Plato's critique in the context of his own philosophy and to locate him in today's philosophy of art, showing how issues in aesthetics arise from responses to his charges.

Genres: Philosophy

236 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 1995

About the author

Christopher Janaway (BA, DPhil Oxford) is a philosopher and author. Before moving to Southampton in 2005, Janaway taught at the University of Sydney and Birkbeck, University of London. His recent research has been on Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and aesthetics. Janaway currently lectures at the University of Southampton, including a module focusing on Nietzsche.

Reviews

[Ryō Nagafuji · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good starter to finding out about Plato's views on aesthetics, but I did find it hard to engage with a lot of the time. There were some moments of revelation and different perspectives compared, but they weren't as often as I think could be offered on a topic as broad as the one in question, especially given Plato spoke so much about his opinions on beauty and their relation to things that are good and virtuous.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got everything I needed and expected from this book. It was easy/pleasant to read, which is notable in an academic book. I felt it gave a good overview of Plato/Socrates' views and arguments over multiple dialogues, and did well to highlight similarities and discrepancies for those of us who have not read them all, and know some far better than others. Janaway's manner of trying to find the most favourable view of Plato/Socrates argument helped. My only issue with the book was that it has been drummed into me for years that conflating Plato's opinion with what Socrates says is dangerous and possible misleading or downright incorrect, and although there is a bit towards the end of the book where Janaway mentions the issue of how much of Socrates' words are Plato's ideas, for most of the book he refers to everything that is concluded in the dialogues as Plato's view. Aside from this, it was a really helpful text for examining this early debate in what is now called 'aesthetics', particularly because it discusses dialogues that are often overlooked in the debate, rather than focusing just on passages in the Republic. Janaway also spends a lot of time handling the idea of whether or not Plato/Socrates' view changes over the course of the dialogues.