Art as Philosophy
Plato states that knowledge is a recovery or remembrance and that the only
true being is founded upon the forms, the eternal, unchangeable types
(independent of all that is accidental and therefore perfect),
and which any simulation (of that form) would be an imperfect copy.

In a sense, imitation and representation are not merely a second version or a copy.
They are recognition of the form.  However by imitating, one does not just reproduce.
This imitation evolves due to the spectator involved and what that spectator brings to
the imitation—a wealth of possibilities and unlimited representation.

Nor should we imagine that Plato's perfect types do not encompass all possibilities
of nuanced difference.  So small a change or improvement on an "original" may
actually bring the reproduction closer to the ideal.

Nancy Snavely
Vsar 422 1999