Education and Self-Development

Abstract

As was discussed earlier, Plato’s suspicion of the arts — poetry and theatre in particular — derived from his belief in the strong hold they have on the human psyche. By affecting the irrational part of the psyche, the arts can affect both the ethical sphere and human behaviour. However, precisely because of that hold the arts have on us, if their content and form is carefully directed and censored by the state (so as to ensure that the feelings and emotions instilled through the artistic experience are desirable ones) the powers of the arts can be harnessed for the good of the polity (Belfiore 2006a). As Plato himself explains in the Republic:

The point is that a young person can’t tell when something is allegorical and when it isn’t, and any idea admitted by a person of that [young] age tends to become almost ineradicable and permanent. All things considered, then, that is why a great deal of importance should be placed upon ensuring that the first stories they hear are best adapted for their moral improvement.

(1993 edn: 73; 378d)