Mimesis: As Viewed by Plato, Avicenna and Aquinas

Mimesis is one of the longest artistic theories preceding Plato. At the same time, it is of those theories taking various readings. In this paper, the views of three influential philosophers, Plato, Ibn Sina and Aquinas, of three different intellectual domains are studied. Plato in Greece, Ibn Sina in the Islamic tradition and Aquinas in the Christian Middle Ages, each being of his own school of thought. In this essay, we will examine the reading of each of them by analyzing their attitude in a comparative approach and distinguish each from corresponding readings. Since they do not belong to one and the same time, their readings of Mimesis are not similar. Plato has based it on an idea-based epistemology, Ibn Sina on an Aristotlian knowledge and Aquinas on Christian specific readings