ABSTRACT

Aristotle’s Poetics is the first philosophical account of an art form and the foundational text in aesthetics. The Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Aristotle and the Poetics is an accessible guide to this often dense and cryptic work. Angela Curran introduces and assesses:

  • Aristotle’s life and the background to the Poetics
  • the ideas and text of the Poetics
  • the continuing importance of Aristotle’s work to philosophy today

chapter 1|17 pages

Aristotle's life and writings

chapter 2|28 pages

Grounding principles and concepts

chapter 3|27 pages

Differentiating the imitative arts 1

chapter 4|31 pages

The pleasures in imitations

chapter 5|28 pages

Tragedy defined

chapter 6|19 pages

The six elements of poetic composition 1

chapter 7|32 pages

Philosophy, poetry, and knowledge

chapter 9|22 pages

Catharsis

chapter 10|33 pages

Comedy and epic

chapter 11|27 pages

The distinctive pleasure of tragedy

chapter 12|17 pages

The Poetics and contemporary aesthetics

chapter 13|9 pages

Conclusion