Plato’s Philosophy of Art and Slovene Literature

Abstract

The article starts with the ascertainment that Slovenia has not yet seen a publication of a research monograph on Plato and Platonism in Slovene literature. Arguably, the reason for this lies in the fact that Plato was traditionally understood as a critic of art, his influence on literary creativity therefore being of a rather limited scope. The prevalence of this outlook in Slovenia is undeniable, and greater than in the studies found in other countries. A detailed analysis of both foreign and local treatises on Plato’s stance on art has shown that the research material can be divided into three basic categories: view of Plato as an art critic, view of Plato as an artist and the thesis on Plato’s paradox. – The fact that Plato’s doctrine on art evokes such radically opposing viewpoints calls for a new interpretation of his notions of mimesis, the beautiful and truth, which are the cornerstones of any treatise on Plato and art. The existing debates have concentrated solely on those excerpts from Plato which address individual artistic practices, without paying sufficient attention to his philosophy as a whole, which he himself understood as »greatest art of all«. Furthermore, his stance on art has been handed down to us through Aristotle’s critique and the later Thomistic tradition, which was strongly present in Slovene aesthetics at the break of the 19^th century. So far, Slovene literary theory has failed to grasp the importance of this fact. Plato’s mimesis does not imply only artistic creation. The relationship between human beings and god can also be understood as mimetic. The human being – philosophers included – is thus revealed in its mimetic quality. And the task of philosophy is to acknowledge it. It is only from its ontological disclosedness (from the need to approach the other) that the human being can and has to bring itself in attunement with its being in the world, which can be understood as being for the other, with the good as the only relevant criterion. Art proves to be neglectful of this insight exactly in its bringing to the forefront the human being as the sole measure of the world. – On the ground of this understanding, instead of looking for »Platonic references« (in Prešeren, Stritar, Bartol, Cankar as well), the research on Plato and literature in Slovenia can shift its attention to seeking evidence of the so-called »Platonic works of art«, i.e. those works and authorial oeuvres which are not only a mere appropriation of Plato by way of referencing, but also and primarily a self-reflective incorporation of ontological disclosedness of the human being into artistic practices, models and worlds. It is but on this ground, and as with Alma Sodnik, who affirmed the concept of Platonism in Slovene aesthetics, that the debate on Platonism in Slovene literature can take its full swing.