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Alex Neill - the Paradox of Tragedy

Philosophy Bites

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The Paradox of Drama

Aristotle said that the tragic poet aims to produce the pleasure of pity and fear. We're not going to be able to get Aristotle off the hook if you like by appealing to different objects which pity and fear might have, he says. I think it's because for centuries people have recognized that tragedy is a form of art that matters that's important to us. People stage tragedies or make films of tragedies - modern movie versions of Macbeth, Hamlet and so on. These things sell. Given that we patently do value tragedy thenIt must be that we take pleasure in tragedy. And the paradox gets started.

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