Fourth century BCE

Plato — When a likeness obscures truth and the soul

Does an accurate likeness give knowledge, or merely look knowledgeable without teaching what is good?

Evidence-backed account

Republic X joins an epistemic critique of imitation with a political and educational worry that painting and tragedy may address the soul's non-rational part.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

Plato's Aesthetics
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: §3.3 Republic 10: the copy-making arts and the soul
Open source

Reducing Plato's aesthetics to ‘all art is bad’ misses his other discussions of beauty, inspiration, and educational imitation.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

Plato's Aesthetics
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: Introduction; §1–§3, contrasts among beauty, inspiration, and imitation
Open source

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