Abstract
Imitation was called µίµησιζ in Greek and imitatio in Latin: it is the same term in different languages. The term has existed since antiquity; the concept however, has changed. Today imitation means more or less the same as copying; in Greece its earliest meaning was quite different.
Nulle poésie se doit louer pour accomplie si elle ne ressemble la nature.
Pierre de Ronsard, preface to the Odes (1550)
Section I of the present chapter is adapted from the essay “Mimesis” which appeared in The Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Copyright © 1973 Charles Scribner’s Sons. Used with permission.
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© 1980 PWN—Polish Scientific Publishers—Warszawa
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Tatarkiewicz, W. (1980). Mimesis: History of the Relation of Art to Reality. In: A History of Six Ideas. Melbourne International Philosophy Series, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8805-7_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8805-7_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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