Plato Vs.Homer---The First Confrontation & Merging Between Philosophy And Literature In The Western Civilization

The confrontation between philosophy and literature is an old topic. In the history of literary criticism and literature, Plato and Homer of the ancient Greece are most influential. Homer, no doubt, is a great monument to the world civilization. In his age, his tragic epics were the main material for education and entertainment in the society and even today, his Iliad and Odyssey are so popular nmong both the young and the old in the whole world. Another great figure in the Greek civilization is Plato, who as a rationalist strongly criticizes Plato from epistemology, ontology (the notion of deas or orms), politics, moral standards, religion and psychology and he explains why poets should be driven out of his epublic. On the other hand, Aristotle who is a student of Plato and greatly influenced by him, shows his sympathy to Homer and the final result of his effort is Aristotles masterpiece oetics in which he merges the two sides. In this thesis, the confrontation of Plato and Homer and their merging are made clear and the great merit of Aristotle is given equal weight.