1. Aristotle on the other hand, believed that imitation involves human experience and in that sense he saw a role for the arts. According to Aristotle, the artist has the freedom to imitate aspects of nature, but he does insist on the unity of form (formal and structural qualities). Aristotle explains form in terms of its “causes” by which he means any external factor (apart from “matter”’) that explains why something is the way it is, and what function it can perform. In short, form is that which causes something to be the thing it is. So whereas Plato’s form relates to Ideal forms, Aristotle relates form to something inherent in the object.
Paraphrase:
Aristotle believed that imitation involves human experience and in that sense, a role for the arts. According to him, the artist has the freedom to imitate aspects of nature, but with the unity of form. Form causes something into what it is and its function. Thus, if Plato relates form as ideal forms, Aristotle believes that form is something already existing within the object.
2. Another difference between Plato and Aristotle is the way they discuss imitation in relationship to beauty. For Plato, beauty is an idea, something abstract that is revealed in the order of the natural world. Hence the importance he placed on mathematics as the key to understanding the natural world. For Aristotle, beauty is something real, it is also a function of form, it is not abstract as for Plato, but it is grounded in an object. In other words, it is bound to a context.
Paraphrase:
Plato and Aristotle have different views on imitation's relationship to beauty. Beauty is an idea, something abstract that can only be achieved by the natural world, according to Plato. Similarly, mathematics is essential in understanding the natural world. Aristotle, however, believed that beauty is something real and is grounded in an object or bound to a context.
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