Elucidation About The Soul Dimension Of Literary Creation By Plato’s Idea Aesthetics

Plato’s idea aesthetics has three dimensions: faith,love and reason.The previous studies of Plato’s idea aesthetics are mostly partial to the approach of philosophical rationality,so they are incomplete.By verifying Plato’s idea aesthetics in literary creation,we can see the unique meanings of the faith dimension and the love dimension.That is to say,literary creation should write what is worth believing,loving and suffering for in the soul of the author,rather than simply "reflect" the external life.Since ancient Greece,the West has a great tradition of speculative philosophy and tragic art.And special attention has been paid to the conflicts between body and soul,between id and superego,between this side and the other side,exploration of the spiritual world and transcendental world,and thinking about fate and meaning of existence.Compared with western literary creation,Chinese novels are not inferior in character and action(plot)description,but inferior in psychological description and questioning from the soul.Perhaps the reason is that Chinese culture lacks a religious faith,so the confession of individual souls is absent.Therefore,the elucidation of the soul dimension of literary creation and the questioning about the faith dimension and the love dimension of beauty in Plato’s idea aesthetics can deepen our understanding of the essence of literary creation and reflection on the deficiencies of our own creation.Based on the facts from texts about Plato’s thought,the elucidation about the soul dimension of idea aesthetics is applied to literary creation to explore the essence.This paper is divided into three parts:Part I discusses "the origin of literary creation".The logical starting point of this paper is the civilization soil for the germination of Plato’s thought.It is believed that beauty has three dimensions: faith,love and reason.Part II discusses "the conception of literary creation".Plato divides beauty into two basic types: beauty in itself and beautiful things.Beautiful things are a perceptual form of beauty--people rely on the senses to grasp them;beauty in itself is a transcendental,spiritual form of beauty--people rely on the soul to reach it.Plato believes that truth lies in the human heart.Philosophers and artists are supposed to question,explore and reflect on the existence of the soul.Recall,inspiration,illusion and other phenomena induced thereout are the release and emergence of the id of soul.In addition,Plato further distinguishes inspirational poetry and imitative poetry,and proposes to expel poets who cater to the audience and only imitate out of the Republic.Part III discusses "the materialization of literary creation".Plato believes that the form of beauty should be "typical" of perfection,that is,an idealism,which contains three dimensions:supreme truth,supreme good and supreme beauty.Supreme truth emphasizes that the artistic materialization of the soul should show the authenticity of life;supreme good emphasizes that the artistic materialization of the soul should express human’s liberation demand;supreme beauty emphasizes that the artistic materialization of the soul should conform to the aesthetic ideal of human beings.The remaining section explores the implications of Plato’s idea aesthetics for current literary creation in China.