THE PROBLEM OF INTERPRETATION OF KÁTHARSIS IN POETICS

Abstract

Trying to understand the Aristotelian definition of tragedy in Chapter 6 of the Poetics, we face the problem of interpretation of kátharsis. Under that definition, to arouse fear and pity in his audience, the tragedy "would provide a kátharsis" in relation to these emotions. From a use of the term that appears in Politics VIII, 7 Jonathan Lear points out three important possibilities of interpretation that should be considered: kátharsis as a purgation arising ecstasies of religious and medicinal healing, kátharsis as a purification from the transformation pleasure in the suffering during the tragic performance, and katharsis as education of the emotions. I want to present a qualification of the notion of katharsis as "education of emotions" that shows that in addition to providing a moral education, kátharsis also instantiates the aesthetic education of man through the "specific pleasure of tragedy."