The difference between beds in this world and the idea of a bed is perception. The term bed is a definition of the image that we have in our heads of what a bed is. The term is merely just a representation or a classification. As we did in class, if we sit around and ask what a bed is in actuality we will get many different answers. It could be a sofa bed, canopy bed or a crib depending on the person but in actuality its just a surface designed for a sleeping body. That is the only thing that is universal that applies to beds and only beds.
Art fits into the hierarchy according to Plato after the creator. Which he then goes to call the imitation or the imitator (referring to the artist). According to Plato artists create the image in their head and put it out for the world to see or believe is reality. From the text it says “ Then the imitator, I said, is a long way off the truth, and can do all things because he lightly touches on a small part of them, and that part an image. For example: A painter will paint a cobbler, carpenter, or any other artist, though he knows nothing of their arts; and, if he is a good artist, he may deceive children or simple persons, when he shows them his picture of a carpenter from a distance, and they will fancy that they are looking at a real carpenter.” Which means to me that art is a deception because it is a created image of what the artist chose it to be and we believe it to be true because we ,as normal beings of the 20th century, don’t know the wiser. I agree in a sense as humans we can be ignorant to what people tell us is reality. All of our images and beliefs are from what someone told us. As an example the bible is written by a person who gave us our images of what heaven and hell is or what right and wrong from the creator to which he’s never, in the direct term, spoken to. In actuality we have all been deceived by artists to believe what they’ve created in reality when in fact its just a mere image of a made up idea or concept. An example of this is during the movie I Am Legend, Will Smith plays a character that fights killer zombie dogs in one scene. As a viewer of the movie we see just that, but in actuality Will Smith is just an actor, acting like he’s fighting a zombie and in reality the “zombie dog” is just an artificial puppet that someone is using to depict an attack on Will Smith’s character. This is an example of artist’s deception in movies. It is easy to be deceived by artists because we take a lot of things for face value without doubting artists and that is why Plato says that artists can use their talents to be deceiving and he does not hold much trust in them.
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