by Kurt Knecht | Aug 27, 2011 | Beethoven, Chuck D, Dr. Dre, Plato, Stockhausen, Stravinsky, Uncategorized
In the Ion, Plato lays out the central problem with artists in general. To wit: they’re crazy. Well, maybe they aren’t crazy all the time, but they are at least crazy when they are making their art. Socrates points out that “all good poets…compose their beautiful...
by Kurt Knecht | Aug 23, 2011 | aesthetics, Plato, the N.W.A., Uncategorized
In book 10 of the Republic, Plato goes on one of his more extended rants against artists. His final target appears to be Homer. His first issue is that artists are always three steps from the truth. They make copies of copies. So, a painter paints a chair, but he...
by Kurt Knecht | Jun 2, 2011 | hope, music, Plato, Uncategorized
In a wonderful passage from Phaedrus, Plato tells us the relationship between the soul’s apprehension of truth and the corresponding occupation of the person inheriting it. He says that “the soul which has seen most of truth shall come to the birth as a...
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