柏拉图：艺术是距离现实的第三重模仿 Plato: Art is Imitation That is Three Steps Removed from Reality

有人说西方哲学是对柏拉图的一系列的注解。柏拉图对西方文化的影响无疑是十分巨大，包括对艺术与艺术理论的巨大影响。

柏拉图发展了他的两个世界观的现实：不断改变的物质世界与永恒与不变的理念世界。理念世界是绝对、独立、理性与超越的。理念世界永远不变，是我们所看到的物质世界的主要自然事物的因。

美、公正与圆圈都是柏拉图的形式或理念的例子。很多个别的事物都具有圆圈、公正或美的形式。对柏拉图而言，这些形式是完美的理想，它们同时比客观物体更为真实。他称它们为‘真正的实在’。世界上的物质现象的实在只能限于它们对真实世界的模仿。

在柏拉图看来，不断变换的物质世界是完美、理性、永恒、不变的本质世界的劣等腐朽模仿本。美丽的花朵、夕阳、音乐或情爱都不过是美丽理念的不完美模仿品。在这个现象不断改变的世界，你可能有机会捕捉到醉人心弦的完美的短暂一刻，但是它必然会消失。它只是永恒的完美的线索。

艺术是模仿。但是，模仿什么？艺术模仿日常生活里的事与物。就是说，艺术作品是理念的模仿的模仿。所以它是距离现实的第三重模仿。以画一张床为例，它模仿物质世界里的床，而这物质世界床本身就是理念世界里的床的劣等模仿品，虽然它比艺术床较为好些。只有理念床才真正的存在。

所以，艺术作品比起日常经验更加虚幻。它们充其量不过是娱乐，而在最坏的情况下是危险的妄想。柏拉图关心艺术的认知方面，觉得既然它与真理有数重距离，它有歪曲知识的效果。他提议把诗人与剧作家驱赶出他的理想王国，或至少审查他们所写；同样的，他要求音乐与绘画经过严格的审查。他认为艺术强而有力地塑造个性。所以，为了保护理想社会里的理想公民，艺术应该受到严格的控制。

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It is said that all of Western philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato. Plato's influence on western culture is undoubtedly a very strong one, and this includes a strong influence on the arts, and on theories of art.

Plato developed a two-world view of reality, the changing physical world and the eternal and changeless world of Forms, which is absolute, independent, rational and transcendent. The world of Forms never changes and yet causes the essential nature of things we perceive in the physical world.

Beauty, Justice, and The Circle are all examples of what Plato called Forms or Ideas. Many particular things can have the form of a circle, or of justice, or beauty. For Plato, these Forms are perfect Ideals, but they are also more real than physical objects. He called them the ‘Really Real’. The world of physical appearances only has reality to the extent that it succeeds in imitating the Forms.

Plato saw the changing physical world as a poor, decaying copy of a perfect, rational, eternal, and changeless original. The beauty of a flower, or a sunset, a piece of music or a love affair, is an imperfect copy of the form Beauty itself. In this world of changing appearances, while you might catch a glimpse of that ravishing perfection, it will always fade. It’s just a pointer to the perfect beauty of the eternal.

Art is imitation. But what does it imitate? Art imitates the objects and events of ordinary life. In other words, a work of art is a copy of a copy of a Form. It is therefore three steps removed from reality. A painting of a bed, for example, is the imitation of a bed in the physical world that itself is an imperfect (though less so) imitation of the Form or Idea Bed, which is all that really exists.

Therefore, the works of art are even more of an illusion than are ordinary experience. They are at best entertainment and at worst a dangerous delusion. Plato was also concerned with the cognitive aspect of art, feeling that it has the effect of distorting knowledge since it is several steps removed from truth. He proposed sending the poets and playwrights out of his ideal Republic, or at least censoring what they wrote; and he wanted music and painting severely censored. The arts, he thought, are powerful shapers of character. Thus, to train and protect ideal citizens for an ideal society, the arts must be strictly controlled.