ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to introduce the reader to some of the leading philosophical writings and ideas of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers in the field of aesthetics. It focuses in the first instance on the writings of Plato and Aristotle, who have had a major influence on the development of the field. The book considers some thinkers of later antiquity who responded, in various ways, to issues which Plato and Aristotle had raised. It explains some central arguments of Plato and Aristotle about the arts. Aristotle does see poetry as having moral value, though in a more subtle way, not, or not simply, as providing moral instruction. Epicurus takes Plato’s position to an extreme, thinking that poetry can never have educational value.
