Essay - Plato, Marx, and Critical Thought David Richter's Book is Absolutely...

Plato, Marx, and Critical Thought

***** Richter's book is absolutely indispensable, as it is one of the few anthologies willing to acknowledge the ex*****tence ***** and include well-chosen examples from the long history of critical thought and how it helps us understand what we read, why ***** read, and what we value.

The greatest strength ***** Richter's work is that it simply starts at the beginning of classical literature and moves forward until about the mid-19th century, charting a course through ***** is aptly termed "the critical tradition." This movement provides a bro*****d context in which one can more usefully engage contemporary thinkers. Present-day debates over representation, for example, ***** the dangers thereof, weigh a great deal more when one is familiar with the long history ***** underpins this debate, from Aristotle to Horace, Plato to *****

The critical ***** in Richter is shaped in such a way ***** choose the contemporary essays well. They're selected and organized in ***** a way as to give a sense of a ***** taking shape. This not only ***** the readings speak to each other more directly, but it also forces the reader ***** keep in mind that the critical tradition is never a finished product. This paper will examine the ideas ***** Plato as defined in the "Republic," and compare them to Marx's "Communist Manifesto." These two men's ideas regarding the nature of society and the ideal structure for society arise from *****ir ideas of the ***** of man. If man is a moral creature, who has a n*****tural bent toward the *****er good ***** h***** fellow citizens, and ***** in general, *****n either of these two philosophers could have penned the outline for a perfect society. However, in a fin*****l analysis, this paper will propose its own ***** of the nature ***** man. If the finally proposal is accurate, ***** flaws of both Plato and Marx will be glaringly apparent. In doing so, this paper ***** ***** rea*****ns behind the failure of ***** writer's philosophies.

Plato's republic attacks the mimetic arts. He believed that these arts were only copies the natural realities around them, ***** there*****e did ***** contribute to the betterment of *****. Plato's belief was that art is fundamentally based on imitati*****. It was this imitation factor which made ***** inferior, combined with ***** unsuitable moral content ***** some art. ***** condemnation of art is seen by ***** as too rational*****t, and in striv*****g for a pure idealism Plato w***** depriving art of its charms, and value to simple improve life because of its pleasantness, and beauty. Modern objections to Plato's theory ***** art assert that he failed to discover t***** specific ***** of artist creation. ***** the creation of art, the process of imitation is necessary: creating a new re*****lity from an *****'s own imagination. Did Pla***** really intended ***** to mean a slavish copy, or is there intrinsic ***** in the ***** of imagining a world that is better than ***** one which we possess?

In Plato's