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Katharsis

Katharsis 297 Katharsis JONATHAN LEAR I 1. Tragedy, says Aristotle, is a mimesis of a serious and complete action, having magnitude, which through pity and fear brings about a katharsis of such emotions. But what Aristotle meant by what he said, in particular, what he meant in claiming that tragedy produces a katharsis, is a question which has dominated western philosophy and literary criticism since the Renaissance.2 In the last hundred years it has been widely accepted that by katharsis Aristotle meant a purgation of the emotions.3 Now there is a sense in which the interpretation of katharsis as purgation is unexceptionable: having aroused the emotions of pity and fear, tragedy does leave us with a feeling of relief; and it is natural for humans to conceive of this emotional process in corporeal terms: as having gotten rid of or expelled the emo- tions.4 But at this level of generality, the interpretation is as unhelpful as it is 298 unexceptionable. For what we wish to know is how Aristotle conceived of the process of katharsis as it occurs in the performance of a tragedy. Even if we accept that Aristotle drew on the metaphor of purgation in naming this http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Phronesis Brill

Katharsis

Lear, Jonathan
Phronesis , Volume 33 (1-3): 297 – Jan 1, 1988
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1988 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0031-8868
eISSN
1568-5284
DOI
10.1163/156852888X00216
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

297 Katharsis JONATHAN LEAR I 1. Tragedy, says Aristotle, is a mimesis of a serious and complete action, having magnitude, which through pity and fear brings about a katharsis of such emotions. But what Aristotle meant by what he said, in particular, what he meant in claiming that tragedy produces a katharsis, is a question which has dominated western philosophy and literary criticism since the Renaissance.2 In the last hundred years it has been widely accepted that by katharsis Aristotle meant a purgation of the emotions.3 Now there is a sense in which the interpretation of katharsis as purgation is unexceptionable: having aroused the emotions of pity and fear, tragedy does leave us with a feeling of relief; and it is natural for humans to conceive of this emotional process in corporeal terms: as having gotten rid of or expelled the emo- tions.4 But at this level of generality, the interpretation is as unhelpful as it is 298 unexceptionable. For what we wish to know is how Aristotle conceived of the process of katharsis as it occurs in the performance of a tragedy. Even if we accept that Aristotle drew on the metaphor of purgation in naming this

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Phronesis – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1988

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