PLATO’S EVALUATION OF ARTS IN VIEW OF PAIDEIA

Abstract

This essay is an attempt to examine the relationship between art and education inPlato’s philosophy considering the perspective of aesthetics. The fi rst part is dedicated to inquiryof several key concepts, which determine our understanding of this relationship: concepts of art,poetry and τέχνη. The second part of essay more closely reveals Plato’s arguments against poetryand visual arts by connecting the arguments from the second, the third and the tenth chapter ofPoliteia with arguments from his other dialogues, which should reveal the educational functionof art and its limits. Finally, relying on these classic arguments, author is offering some possibleperspectives for their further understanding and development, emphasizing the implicite consideringof specifi cally aesthetic aspect of art.