Abstract

This work is an introduction to the problem of the ugly in antiquity in four parts. Part 1 is a long introduction to the problem, Parts 2 and 3 are extended readings of Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Poetics respectively, and Part 4 comprises three independent parerga. ;Part 1 is a purely conceptual discussion which explains the traditional "problem of the ugly" in aesthetics, presents the methodology and goals of Parts 2 and 3, and then finally argues at length that the Greek concept of the aischron is the most important region of ugliness which one should take into account for ancient Greek culture. ;Part 2 shows how, in deploying the aesthetic in response to ethico-political problems, Plato's Socrates relies upon the "Principle of Alienation" to exclude the representation of the ugly, in order to prevent the moral disorientation of the guardians. Thus a victory in the context of moral education is also a first major defeat for the theorization of the ugly in art. A new perspective on this aspect of the Republic is provided through ample references to the previous understanding of the ugly in Greek culture, as well as to the continuing importance of shame. ;Part 3 treats the theoretical accommodations made by Aristotle in response to the extreme position of the Republic. The Poetics employs the paradigms of the ugly image, tragedy, and comedy in order to characterize the nature and benefits of mimesis and poetry, and this shows that the stimulus of the ugly is at the heart of Aristotle's vindication of human mimesis in general. A conclusion to Parts 2 and 3 suggests that, far from being a mere anomaly, the theory of the ugly is constitutive of the theory of art in general within the broader discourse of the aesthetic