The Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle were among the most important
             and creative thinkers of the ancient world. Their treatises set forth most
             of the important problems and concepts of Western philosophy, psychology,
             logic, and politics, and their influence has remained insightful from
             ancient to modern times. Although both Plato and Aristotle also wrote about
             poetry and the arts, most scholars today spend most of their time
             discussing other aspects of their discourses. However, in several of their
             works, including The Republic, Ion and Aristotle Poetics, these two
             philosophers spent considerable time analyzing these topics concerned with
             aesthetics. Readily apparent, when reading their works, is their divergent
             viewpoints on the value of art in human society.
             For Plato, the key to regarding art, specifically poetry, lies in the
             relationship between the poem and its inspiration. The relationship of the
             poem itself to the truth it endeavors to represent, as well as the process
             by which the poet creates art from inspiration, define the nature and the
             value of the poem. In The Republic, especially Book II and X, Plato
             addresses poetry through the characterization of imitation. In his view,
             art is purely mimetic, or imitative (The word mimesis comes from the Greek
             word for "imitation.") Poetry, then, is a mere copy, a "mirror" held up to
             â€this ignorance in the soul of him who is deceived may be called
             the true lie: for the lie in words is only a kind of imitation
             and shadowy image of previous affection of the soul, not pure
             Plato argues that imitative poetry should be banned in order to
             create a more perfect, just society. For this philosopher, justice only
             takes place when there is harmonic stability within each individual's soul
             on a personal level and within a city on a larger
             system. Poetry, however, is an antithesis...