This essay is both historical, as it sketches the broad strokes of ancient Greek history, and philosophical, as it addresses Aristotle’s Poetics. While reading this book, one will recall the oft-repeated phrases from our classical studies: “know thyself.”
The being (the one who is) in search of perfection, the soul imprisoned in the body (This theme will be echoed in the time of the Albigensians and the Cathars.)
Between virtue and nothingness; between truth and falsehood, is there a third way? Individuation: Matter/Potentiality; Universality: Form/Act of being. Poetics: an invention, a creation, a production.
All these questions present themselves to us, and the author provides the keys to answer them. It’s philosophy, and the answers cannot be yes or no, black or white. Soul-man-God or God-man-Soul.
The sentence reads both ways, like a flow and ebb where man is the center. Man cannot find God without the soul, and the soul cannot exist without man. (Èthos anthrôpô daimôn.)
This work is an introduction to the knowledge and understanding of Aristotle’s wisdom. The reader will particularly appreciate the richness of numerous quotations and references.
If one were to use the language of sports, this essay would certainly be a successful attempt and should provide us with a thesis on Aristotle, poetics, theater, and tragedy.
To conclude, we will quote Sophocles: “I am going where I must go.”
Yves Marie Lequin is a Dominican friar and chaplain of artists. It is for this reason that he associated the school of Nice, including artists like Arman and Frédéric Altmann, with his philosophical essay, where, without really knowing it, these artists were in a way Aristotle’s disciples.
The artist at work, a valuable tool for understanding Aristotle and the school of Nice.
Thierry Jan
