ABSTRACT
Since this chapter takes up themes which are individually substantial enough to treat in an independent study, certain restrictions need to be imposed. The focus lies with those dimensions of writing and literature which will help us to understand the ambiguity of art, in the next chapter, and the role of works for history, in the subsequent chapter. In relation to Plato, these themes come under the classic headings “critique of writing” (especially in the Phaedrus) and “eviction of the poets” (in the Republic). Both critiques are quite puzzling already on a superfi cial level. The critique of writing is brought forth in writing, by an author who has left us many of his writings (although the critique is placed in the mouth of Socrates, the philosopher who does not write). And the critique of poetry occurs in the Republic, a work that encompasses a number of myths, composed by an author who praises Homer and, in the Phaedrus, describes poetry as a godsent madness. These tensions have naturally evoked extensive discussions in the literature on Plato.
