Massimo Catapano

Abstract

How can Plato, who usesdialogues, i.e. literary works founded on imitation (μίμησις), be such a harsh critic of imitation? Plato seems to be both a literary artist who denies the value of imitation and an opponent of traditional myths that, in spite of this fact, makes use of mythical stories in several key passages of his dialogues. These are the paradoxes that this paper tries to analyze, taking into account several passages of the Republic and Sophist in which maybe can be found a solution to the above–mentioned problem.