The lost second book of Aristotle's Poetics -- Aims of the present book -- Method to be followed -- Prospective readers -- Groundwork -- Aristotle's arts and sciences -- The organon -- Preface to the theoretical sciences -- Mathematics -- The physical sciences -- The biological sciences -- First philosophy -- The order of the arts and sciences -- The practical sciences -- The productive sciences : poetics -- Rhetoric -- Scientific rationality as a guiding idea -- Causes -- The symbolon argument -- Causes in the poetics -- Poetic imitation -- The analysis of poetic imitation -- The scope of poetic imitation -- The evolution of poetic imitation -- Expectations of Poetics II -- The epitome of Poetics II -- Comparison of expectations with the epitome -- The kinds of poetry -- The autonomy of poetry -- Internal and external ends -- The Aristotelian tradition -- Historical, educational, and imitative poetry -- Historical poetry -- Historical poetry and history -- Historical poetry and imitative poetry -- Historical poetry and rhetoric -- Educational poetry -- Poetry and philosophy -- Poetry and education -- Imitative poetry -- The end of tragedy -- The end of tragedy as catharsis -- The fearful emotions -- The removal of emotions by emotions -- The aim of tragedy : symmetry -- The mother of tragedy : pain -- Poetry and the practical sciences -- Poetic and therapeutic catharsis -- Is catharsis in the poem or in the audience? -- Is catharsis educative? -- The practical ends of poetry -- Comedy -- The definition of comedy -- The mother of comedy : laughter -- The laughable -- The definition of the laughable -- Accounts of the laughable -- The causes of the laughable -- Laughter from the diction -- Laughter from the incidents -- Cicero's account of laughter -- The science of the laughable -- The embodiment of the laughable in comedy -- The matter and parts of comedy -- Old, new, and middle comedy.
Summary:
"Of all the writings on theory and aesthetics--ancient, medieval, or modern--the most important is indisputably Aristotle's Poetics, the first philosophical treatise to propound a theory of literature. In the Poetics, Aristotle writes that he will speak of comedy--but there is no further mention of comedy. Aristotle writes also that he will address catharsis and an analysis of what is funny. But he does not actually address any of those ideas. The surviving Poetics is incomplete. Until today. Here, Walter Watson offers a new interpretation of the lost second book of Aristotle's Poetics. Based on Richard Janko's philological reconstruction of the epitome, a summary first recovered in 1839 and hotly contested thereafter, Watson mounts a compelling philosophical argument that places the statements of this summary of the Aristotelian text in their true context. Watson renders lucid and complete explanations of Aristotle's ideas about catharsis, comedy, and a summary account of the different types of poetry, ideas that influenced not only Cicero's theory of the ridiculous, but also Freud's theory of jokes, humor, and the comic."--Publisher description
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.