Poetics (Aristotle)

The Poetics ( ancient Greek ποιητική [ τέχνη ] poietike [ techne ] - the creative, sealing [Arts] ) is a well to 335 BC authored as lecture basis book of Aristotle, which deals with the art of poetry and their genres.

Aristotle divided the sciences into three major groups ( theoretical, practical and poietic ); the Poetics deals with a part of the poietic, ie, Engendering ' human knowledge in descriptive and prescriptive ways. In the area of Aristotelian poetics first fall all those arts ( τέχναι, TECHNAI ), have the mimetic, that is imitative or representational character: epic, tragedy, comedy, Dithyrambendichtung, but also dance and music. In the course of the work, it turns out that Aristotle almost exclusively treated seal in the narrower sense, ie imitative art forms that use the medium of language.

Aristotle 's Poetics is related to his rhetoric, insofar as both writings thematize language and communication, as well as with his policy, so far had poetry as oratory central social functions in the Greek polis.

• 3.1 Definition of Tragedy
• 3.2 The six parts of tragedy
• 3.3 The mythos ( plot, story, fable ) 3.3.1 wholeness and unity of action
• 3.3.2 Probability and necessity of action

• 6.1 original text and translations of the Poetics
• 6.2 To Aristotle
• 6.3 Specifically, the poetics

Tradition state and structure of the font

The poetry has survived incomplete, for Aristotle announced in Scripture itself to try to cure by tragedy and epic, the comedy, and refers in his rhetoric twice to treatment of the ridiculous in the Poetics. Both are missing in the text before us; it was, as research now generally supposed, in a non-preserved second book of the Poetics treated ( This presumably lost book on comedy, the human capacity for laughter and ridicule, plays a central role in Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose. ). Since Richard Janko research discussed again seriously the question of whether the Tractatus Coislinianus could be a residue of the second book.

The chapters of the first book obtained organize thematically to three major sections:

The imbalance between the long tragedies and the short epic theory is at least partially explained by the fact that many of the statements about the tragedy for the epic are so Chapter 23/24 may be limited largely to the summary enumeration of similarities and differences. Chapter 26 brings a judgmental comparison between epic and tragedy.

To seal in general ( Chapter 1-5)

The definition of poiesis: mimesis

All poetry is mimesis, imitation. Here Aristotle is that of the mainstream criterion " meter " from: thus fall about Plato dialogues perfectly into the seal, the metric type of the didactic poem, however, fall out. Imitated here are acting people. This mimesis does not mean a picture in the sense that the image would correspond to an archetype. Rather mimesis consists in a presentation of acting man whose intentions, character and actions both for the better and for the worse may vary.

Derivation of mimesis from the nature of man

The central concept of the poetics of mimesis is derived from Aristotle and from the nature of man. It provides a double anthropological derivation:

The second point, the joy of perception of imitation, is an indication that for Aristotle, the structure and content of a work in terms of the recipient will be designed, as also the catharsis concept shows (see below).

The types of mimesis: The genus classification

The types of mimesis specified Aristotle accurate and pulls her approach to the genre classifications. He distinguishes three criteria for types of mimesis:

The tragedy (Chapter 6-22)

Definition of tragedy

Aristotle defined tragedy as follows:

" Tragedy is an imitation of a good and cohesive action of a certain size, in attractive molded languages ​​and those forming means are employed depending differently in the individual sections. Induces imitation by participants but not by report, the Jammer ( eleos ) and shivering ( phobos ) and thereby causes a cleansing of such agitation. "

Central to this definition, the terms are eleos and phobos. These were since Lessing's Dramaturgy Hamburgischer generally translated as " compassion " and " fear "; this translation has been criticized sharply partly by recent research, so that about Manfred Fuhrmann eleos and phobos, the terms translated as " pity " and " horror ".

This definition gives a more detailed description of the work of a tragedy mimesis:

• Subject of mimesis in a tragedy are ethically good actions.
• Means of mimesis in a tragedy are:

• Way of mimesis in a tragedy is the mediation of an action ( a Myth ) by, doing ' ( off / prattein ), not by epic storytelling.
• Purpose of mimesis in a tragedy is to achieve the catharsis in the viewer. This should not be done by effects ( staging and music), but preferably by means of the plot structure, namely by the excitation of " whining and shudder ."

The six parts of tragedy

Aristotle distinguishes six "parts" of the tragedy that today is called " quality parts". In order of importance for the quality of this tragedy are according to Aristotle:

Of these six parts takes in Aristotle's view, the act by far the largest room and is for him the most important part: Aristotle calls the myth of the "soul" of tragedy. On the basis of this excess weight of the plot to the linguistic form ( lexis ) can be Aristotle 's Poetics focus rather call structure than as style poetics.

The mythos ( plot, story, fable )

The main qualitative part of the tragedy is the myth; However, this word is here to be understood in the modern sense of a myth, but in general than the plot or the action of the play, in older terminology, the fable. Aristotle explains this: " Because the tragedy is not imitation of men, but of action and life reality ( praxeôn kai biou ). " The poet has said for drawing up and presentation of the measure thus does not primarily about the identity of the hero, but after to direct content of the displayed plot.

" Consequently, people who do not act to mimic the characters, but for the sake of the acts they involve characters. Therefore, the events (ta pragmata ) and the myth are the target of the tragedy; but the goal is the most important thing of all. "

Wholeness and unity of action

The most important criteria for a good plot construction are wholeness and unity. You are exactly given if all occurring in the treated mythos elements (a ) may not be missing ( wholeness ) and ( b ) necessary to occur at their respective location within the mythos (unit).

Probability and necessity of action

Criterion that an act or a course of action is suitable for the tragedy is not that it has actually taken place, but that it has a general character. Applies According to Aristotle,

" That it is not the task of the poet is to communicate what really happened, but rather what could happen, that is, according to the rules of probability ( eikos ) or necessity ( anankaion ) Possible. "

Probability and necessity therefore specify the mimesis of the tragedy and their relation to reality more accurately. Because of this, it is also clear why Aristotle highly appreciates the seal: must notify While a historian, what happened in reality so but must also play some casual and meaningless events, can the writer tell what might happen and usually also should. However, since the study of the general and necessary, or at least generally entrants is a typical characteristic of philosophical thinking for Aristotle, he can judge:

" Hence poetry is something more philosophical and more serious ( φιλοσοφώτερον καὶ σπουδαιότερον ) as historiography; because the seal shares more the universal, the writing of history, however, something special with it. "

What makes a good tragedy?

Aristotle stated that tragedies that have certain moments, or use certain moments in certain ways, are better than others. The most important area is here again the plot structure or the course ( myth ).

Under no circumstances should you hand, show:

Other important criteria refer to: - further setted sense - on the plot structure, the turning point and the nature of the characters. Regarding the characters, it is best according to Aristotle, that they without insight execute the decisive act, but gain insight after they have performed the act (such as the Oedipus in Sophocles' tragedy happens).

Behind these distinctions for better or worse tragedy shows ( a) the ethical criterion of representation of a morally good person and ( b ) the criterion of representation of an action, which at the front desk of the substance (and not just the piece being performed ) " misery and horror, " and phobos eleos causes.

The epic (Chapter 23-26)

The epic is similar to the tragedy because a common theme, as well as the epic is morally good or figures to represent. This similarity has a high priority, and that in consequence the tragedy part often occur epic examples, again shows the importance of the reception.

The epic differs from the tragedy in the following points:

The epic has been unsuccessful, according to Aristotle tragedy in two points:

Summary of characterization

By Aristotle in the Poetics has been a number of dramas and epics discusses and analyzed by means of his term instruments, it combines an analysis of what is given to the formulation of binding rules ( for example, in the statement of precedence of tragedy species) and highlighting key elements (such as that the hero of a tragedy is to have no insight into the possible actions before executing it ). So Aristotle's Poetics combines descriptive and prescriptive elements.

Since Aristotle, the plot, the myth in the foreground both its analysis as well as to the meaning of the core provides a seal - that means the imitation of what might happen because of chance or necessity to show the universal in human action - is proving to his poetics in modern terminology. rather than structural because when style poetics

The poetry is also important because Aristotle has formulated her a critique of the theory of ideas of his teacher Plato. Core idea of ​​the theory of ideas, which also had a rejection of the performing arts result, Plato had argued in the 10th and with the allegory of the cave in the seventh book of his dialogue Politeia. The sensible things are therefore images (imitation) a true form of being, of ideas. By only partially have the things in the image of (imitation ) to the ideas, the true being, they provide a level of being second, so lower order represents the presentation of these things again on stage or in painting, therefore, is the image of an image of the true being to understand and therefore imperfect in great extent and worthless.

In addition, Plato presupposes the ethical principle that the seal of truth was bound to contributing to the moral improvement. The reason command the pain ( pathos ) taken to bear. The passion, however, tempted to lament about the pain. By the seal may turn to these lower forces to the passions, they verleite the unreasonable act, to whine ( eleos ).

Aristotle now turns with his poetics against this view of Plato and so has the seal a completely different, higher value to. He rejects the idea of ​​a staged picture of the ideas in poetry from as nonsensical. Instead, he argues that the true being realized in the combination of form ( presentation ) and content of poetry, would be created, so to speak. An abstract idea that exists beyond the sensible things, Aristotle denies. The goal ( telos ) of the seal is thus in the enforcement of the seal, in the realization of which being arises only. Fuhrmann has therefore spoken to quite a reshaping of the Platonic idea of ​​an entelechy.

Aristotle exemplifies his consideration, for example in chapter 13 of the Poetics, by henceforth conceives the heroes as human beings and not as in Plato as a god- like beings. The generic theoretical considerations that he does to tragedy, are done to exclude certain behaviors in poetry, while Plato discredited the seal in its entirety and rejected. Unlike Plato, Aristotle speaks temperate passions to a useful feature that can have a visual effect. By the seal Jammer ( eleos ) and shudder calls forth ( phobos, fear), they can have a cleansing effect ( catharsis ) on the human soul.

This concept is particularly taken up again by the rediscovery of classical antiquity during the literary movements of the Enlightenment and classical music, and developed further handed down.