ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the first mention of catharsis. Young citizens should not learn to play the pipe, not only because it because it requires too much technical skill, but because its effects are inspirational or ’orgiastic’ rather than educational. The reference to catharsis is particularly intriguing because it promises a solution to a central puzzle about tragedy, why people are attracted to it. An understanding of catharsis might also illuminate the relation of Aristotle’s view to Plato’s, since he believed that tragedy fosters harmful emotions; Aristotle’s position seems to contrast with his, and might, if people understood it more clearly, provide an answer to it. It follows that even without the theory of emotional release; Aristotle has an answer to Plato. He can say that tragedy actually fosters appropriate emotions. If people understand catharsis in some other way, as emotional education or clarification, they can suppose that it represents, precisely, either by habituating them to feeling appropriate emotions.
