Plato's Censorship Of Art Analysis
Plato’s Stance on Censorship In Plato’s time, there was question whether certain works of art should or should not be censored. Some objected to popular art and felt it should be censored while others felt that art was just another form of entertainment and should be left untouched. Plato was a philosopher and mathematician that came from Classical Greece. He thought that all arts should be censored and only keep the contents that show or do good. He believes that the youth must be shielded from harmful art because it will influence them to devalue friendships with others, act unjustly, or stray from their paths of honoring the gods. Plato considers any art depicting the gods in blasphemous ways to be harmful art, as well as any art that
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He saw that a current event of video games receiving censorship due to influencing youth wrongly was not dissimilar to Plato censoring art to shield the youth from harm. He believes that the manner Plato was censoring art in would surely cause commotion to today’s freedom of speech supporters. However, he then states that “we, too, censor our children’s educational materials as surely, and on the same grounds, as Plato did” (2). This is true, as shown by a few examples Nehamas provides which state that we too have clean versions of the Greek stories and the Bible. In addition to this, Nehamas accuses poetry of leading the youth into thinking that authenticity and fiction are the same. Thus, condemning all who view it to a depraved life and a drop in imagination. He believes that this reasoning is the same for the way media receives criticism today. However, he admits that while we may never know how ancient Athenians reacted to poetry, today's society must understand that violence in video games is in just that; a video game. With this, Nehamas believes that art today should not be censored as Plato thought it should be. Instead of censoring art, he says that, “we should ensure that we, and especially our children, learn to interact intelligently and sensibly with them”
He saw that a current event of video games receiving censorship due to influencing youth wrongly was not dissimilar to Plato censoring art to shield the youth from harm. He believes that the manner Plato was censoring art in would surely cause commotion to today’s freedom of speech supporters. However, he then states that “we, too, censor our children’s educational materials as surely, and on the same grounds, as Plato did” (2). This is true, as shown by a few examples Nehamas provides which state that we too have clean versions of the Greek stories and the Bible. In addition to this, Nehamas accuses poetry of leading the youth into thinking that authenticity and fiction are the same. Thus, condemning all who view it to a depraved life and a drop in imagination. He believes that this reasoning is the same for the way media receives criticism today. However, he admits that while we may never know how ancient Athenians reacted to poetry, today's society must understand that violence in video games is in just that; a video game. With this, Nehamas believes that art today should not be censored as Plato thought it should be. Instead of censoring art, he says that, “we should ensure that we, and especially our children, learn to interact intelligently and sensibly with them”