Abstract: Nietzsche, Plato and Aristotle on Mimesis
This paper compares Nietzsche¡¦s The Birth of Tragedy with Plato¡¦s and Aristotle¡¦s concept of
mimesis. In contrast with the prevailing view that Nietzsche¡¦s concept of tragedy is antimimetic, it argues, basing on original research on Nietzsche¡¦s intellectual debt to his
contemporary classical scholars (e.g. Rohde, Bernays), that there are many points of convergence
between him and the Greek concept of mimesis. It is divided in to two parts: In the first part it
shows, basing on an analysis of the relevant passages in Republic, that Plato¡¦s reason for
prohibiting mimesis, namely the splitting of a unified subject, agrees in another way round with
Nietzsche¡¦s view on mimesis found in his early fragment which are rarely discussed: namely
that the dionysiac ecstatic condition is a prerequisite for mimetic performance. In the second
part, it picks up Jacob Bernay¡¦s treatment of Aristotle¡¦s catharsis, which argues that Aristotle's
catharsis is essentially medical process of channeling ¡§ecstatic affects¡¨. It therefore shows that
there is also a strong ecstatic elements in Aristotle¡¦s concepts of catharsis and pathos, and they
find agreement with Nietzsche¡¦s view: that there are in each person certain ¡§universal¡¨ pathos
barely contained by the unified subject; that these ¡§universal¡¨ pathos and the subject are in
constant tension with each other; and that tragedy performance is essentially a process whereby
man is freed from these pathos by regarding them as no longer his own. Key words: mimesis,
catharsis, pathos, Rohde, Bernays