CriticaLink | Plato: Phaedrus | Terms

mimesis

Mimesis means "imitation"; we get our term "mimic" and "mimicry" from this Greek word. Plato gives the mimetic work of artists a fairly low value, as representation removes the represented object from true reality--the eternal Forms one step further. Plato's student Aristotle reverses this negative evaluation of mimesis, arguing that humans learn through imitating and take pleasure in looking at imitations of the perceived world.

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