Barry Stocker Barry.Stocker@itu.edu.tr https://barrystockerac.wordpress.com Department of Humanities and Social Science Faculty of Science and Letters TOPICS IN LITERATURE AND SOCIETY SPRING 2016 ITB 213E WEEK ONE NOTES Aristotle Aristotle was born in 322 BCE (Before the Common Era, following the same numerical pattern as BC/AD) in Stagira. Stagira was part of the Greek kingdom of Macedon, at the northern edge of the Greek world. The ancient city of Stagira is now an archaeological site near the modern Greek village of Stagira. Aristotle is sometimes known as the Stagirite after his hometown in Macedonia. Macedonians spoke a Greek dialect and followed the culture, literature, and philosophy of Athens, but had previously been largely ignored by Athens and other Greek city states. This changed because of the military conquests of Philip II, who turned the Greek city states of Athens, Sparta, Thebes etc into satellites of Macedon.Philip II s son Alexander the Great continued this situation, and expanded the power of the Macedonian monarchy a long way beyond Greece through conquests of Anatolia, Persia, neighbouring areas of what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, the Middle East from Syria to Libya. According to a Byzantine source, Aristotle s family had links with the Macedonian monarchy through his father Nicomachus who was a court doctor. The source is very late, but since Aristotle later worked for the monarchy, it is very plausible. Aristotle had presumably become excited by the great philosophical work going on in Athens through Socrates, and various students of Socrates, particularly Plato. Plato played a very large part in establishing philosophy as we know it, in its various branches including ethics. As a young man Aristotle travelled to Athens to study with Plato at his school the Academy. On Plato s death (347 BCE) he travelled to Assos in western Anatolia, on the Aegean, were the ruler, Hermeias, was a former member of the Academy. Hermeias died a few years later, so Aristotle moved to the nearby Aegean island of Lesbos. He worked on Lesbos with Theophrastus, his most prominent follower and probably also a former member of Plato s academy. In Lesbos, Aristotle married Hermeias niece Pythias.
2 Topics in Literature and Society Week One Notes In 343 BCE he was invited to the Macedonian capital of Pella (which like Stagira is in the region of Central Macedonia in modern Greece) to tutor Alexander, who was later known as Alexander the Great. In 335 BCE, Aristotle returned to Athens and founded his own school the Lyceum. The members of that school, and followers of Aristotle in general, are sometimes known as Peripatetics. Aristotle left Athens again in 323 BCE, the same year that Alexander the Great died unexpectedly young. He died the following year in Chalcis on the island of Eurboea just off the coast of eastern Greece. The reasons for Aristotle leaving Athens are not known, but he may have felt less safe in Athens once the Macedonian King dşed, leaving uncertainty about the future power and leadership of Macedonia. The situation was resolved by dividing the Empire between Alexander s generals, and Macedonian hegemony in Athens and the rest of Greece was maintained. There was a very high level of resentment and even hatred of Macedon in Athens, which only submitted because of the overwhelming military power of the Macedonians. The speeches of the politician and orator Demosthenes against Philip II, The Philippics, are a classic of ancient Greek rhetoric, and inspired a further series of classic speeches in Latin, in Cicero s speeches against Mark Anthony (who was governing Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar), in first century BCE Rome, motivated by Cicero s belief that Mark Anthony was a tyrant threatening the existence of the Roman republic. Cicero s speeches are also known as Philippics. Athens had a republic with a very strong democratic system, which continued to exist under Macedonian domination, but lacking complete power. The Greek city states were distinguished by republican self government through city assemblies, and decision making bodies composed of the whole people, or at least the whole aristocracy. Aristotle himself thought that Greeks were people suited to this kind of government, though it was very distinct from the monarchical government of Macedonia. Aristotle seems at least partly on the side of the Athenians who hated Macedon and regarded Macedonians as more barbarians than proper Greeks. It was suggested by later ancient authors that Aristotle left Athens to prevent a second crime against philosophy. The first crime was the execution of Socrates through forced suicide after accusations of corrupting the young and changing religion, and Aristotle may have feared a similar end.
3 Topics in Literature and Society Week One Notes However, this idea comes from authors writing centuries after the death of Aristotle. Very little is known about Aristotle s life beyond the outline here, and you should always be sceptical of claims to more detailed knowledge from authors influenced by centuries of invention, speculation, exaggeration etc. Unfounded stories about Aristotle which get wide circulation, apart from the one just mentioned, include claims that Aristotle was very involved with Alexander s rule after he became King. Aristotle, together with Plato, established philosophy as we know it, with distinctions between parts of philosophy still in use. Aristotle wrote about metaphysics (existence, being, ways of existing), nature, science, knowledge, the mind, politics, logic as well as ethics. That is just in surviving texts, most were lost in antiquity. Ch. 1 The study of poetry is to begin with first principles, which is the natural form of study. The main aspects of poetry are: the unity of the plot, the component parts of poetry. Poetry is mimesis (imitation). There are three aspects to mimesis: media (medium of representation), objects (object represented), mode (of representation). There are 3 types of media: rhythm, language, melody. A. Musical instruments use melody and rhythm. B. Dancing use rhythm. C. There is an art which uses language, and which lacks a name. Poetry is the only name available, but it fails to distinguish between what is primarily poetry and philosophical works written in poetry. Socratic dialogues belong to poetry proper. D. [Drama] Mixture of rhythm, language and melody either constantly in the work or differently in different parts of the work. Ch. 2 Mimesis shows people in action. People must be good or bad, therefore the mimesis must show people better than ourselves (Homer, tragedy), worse than ourselves (comedy), or the same. Ch. 3 The mode of representation is narrative, dramatic or a mixture (as in Homer). Ch. 4 There are two natural causes of mimesis: human tendency from childhood for mimesis as the basis for understanding, which distinguishes humans from all other animals; the pleasure of all humans in mimetic objects. Even mimesis of disgusting objects gives us pleasure because we use our understanding in determining what is being
4 Topics in Literature and Society Week One Notes picture. Even if we do not know what is being pictured we take pleasure in the means of representation. Tragedy evolved from earlier forms and has reached fulfilment, it has reached the point of development where the potential of tragedy as a poetic type has been shown and cannot be developed any further. Tragedy reached completion through raising characters above the chorus, elevation of style and complexity. Ch. 5 In comedy people are inferior but not to the extreme of being evil, they are shameful. There is fault and a mask of shame in comedy but not pain or destruction. Comedy went through an evolution parallel with that of tragedy. Epic is different from tragedy in using spoken verse only and the narrative mode. Epic has no limit in time, while tragedy tries to limit itself to one day. All the attributes of epic belong to tragedy, but not all the attributes of tragedy belong to epic. Tragedy is more complete and perfect than epic, which precedes it. Ch. 6 Aristotle declares that he will discuss epic and comedy later, but these parts of the Poetics are now lost. At this point Aristotle discusses the essential nature of tragedy. Tragedy is a representation of an action which is serious, complete and has a perceptible size. Tragedy brings about the catharsis (purging) of pity and fear by arousing these emotions. There are 6 necessary elements of tragedy: plot-structure, character, style, thought, spectacle, lyric poetry. It is the representation of life and events in the action which is the most important element. It is this which is represented essentially, not people. The happiness of individuals rests on action. The goal of tragedy is the plot-structure which mimics life action, and the goal of tragedy is its definition (for Aristotle all definitions refer to the goal of the thing defined). The emotional power of tragedy comes from the plot-structure in reversals and recognition. Plot-structure is the soul and 1 st principle of tragedy. Character is the 2 nd principle referring to moral choice. Thought is the 3 rd principle, using the arts of politics and rhetoric in the speeches of characters. Thought refers to facts and
5 Topics in Literature and Society Week One Notes generalisations about the world. Style is the 4 th principle and is the verbal arising from the choice of words. Lyric poetry is the 5 th principle and the most important garnishing. Spectacle is the 6 th principle, while it can be emotionally powerful it not essential to the tragedy and does originate with the poet. Ch. 7 The action of the tragedy must be whole which means that it has a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning and the end are not arbitrary, they are natural points of beginning and ending; and they are causally linked. Beauty, including the unity and wholeness of tragic form, must have a medium size. If the form is too small it cannot be perceived at all, if it is too large it cannot be perceived all at once. The greatest possible size is possible, presuming that the parts are coherently connected. There must be a probably or necessary series of events in which there is a reversal of fortune. Ch. 8 Unity of a poem comes from the unity of an action. The individual character does not give unity because an individual may perform unconnected acts. Each part of the action must be necessary, so that if it is missing that will effect the whole action. Ch. 9 The difference between poetry and history is that history refers to particular events that did happen; poetry refers to events which could occur and are possible by universal standards necessity or probability. Poetry refers to universals and history refers to particulars, therefore poetry is more philosophical than history. The worst kind of plot in poetry is episodic, events are not connected to each other by probability or necessity. Events with a purpose have the greatest impact on the spectator. Ch. 10 A plot is simple where there is transformation without reversal or recognition. A plot is complex where there is transformation following recognition and/or reversal, which show follow necessarily from the plot.
6 Topics in Literature and Society Week One Notes Ch. 11 Recognition is the move from ignorance to knowledge, producing pity or fear, since it results in the move from prosperity to affliction. The suffering which follows reversal and recognition is the third element of the plot. Ch. 13 Good men moving from prosperity to affliction arouses repulsion, not pity and fear. Wicked men moving from affliction to prosperity does not move us and is not pitiful or fearful. An extremely evil man moving from prosperity to affliction may move us, but cannot produce pity because that would require the suffering to be undeserved and cannot produce fear because the man is not like us. Therefore the hero should not be remarkably good or evil, but of average character with a fatal flaw or fallibility. Tragedy is perfect where the plot-structure is simple, showing the fall of an average or slightly better than average man, a double plot in which there are contrasting outcomes for the good and evil characters is imperfect and belongs to comedy or epic (Homer) rather than tragedy. Ch. 14 There is no tragedy in conflict between enemies or between people with neutral relations. There is tragedy where there is conflict within a family, this arouses pity. The greatest tragedy results where a terrible act is committed within the family, but it is only recognised after the event, or the event is prevented by last minute recognition. Ch. 15 Characters should be good; characters be appropriate to type in their actions; characters should be consistent in their actions. Events within the action should follow consistently from other events and should not be irrational or the result of a divine act, this is only proper for events referred to outside the main action. Ch. 17 The poet should imagine the scenes is fully as possible and realise them as completely as possible, even including gestures. This suits the imaginative man rather than the maniac, as the poet can mould emotions, and the maniac is carried away by them (Plato considered a poet to be a madman). Ch. 22 Style is excellent where it is clear without banality. Banality is avoided by alien language: foreign terms, metaphor, lengthened terms, anything unusual. However, too much of this will produce incomprehensible barbarism. Therefore there should only be an admixture. There must be moderation in the use of alien language.
7 Topics in Literature and Society Week One Notes Ch. 24 Epic should stick to mimesis as much as possible, the poet should speak as little as possible because this is not mimesis and poetry is mimesis. Impossible but plausible events are preferable to events which are possible but implausible. Style should be concentrated in those sections of a poem where there is little characterisation or thought, otherwise the characterisation or thought will be overshadowed. Ch. 25 Poetry should refer to what is real, what people believe is real or what should be real. The poet should generally avoid the impossible, the contradictory and unreal objects. However, these can be justified if they serve the purposes of the action or style and if they can be justified by reference to what is believed to be true, what should be true, or can be shown to be real on closer examination. [This chapter, and other aspects of the Poetics maybe a reply to Plato s claim that the poet refers to an illusory copy of an unreal world, and that the poet is the enemy of the philosopher].