Plato argued that Artistic expression and enjoyment of art are unacceptable human activities for a variety of reasons.
• The Ontological Objection: Art is an imitation of things in the world but things in the world are not real things but are only copies of the Forms which are "real" according to Plato. Unlike philosophy, art does not provide with any truth and in fact it draws attention away from the truth insofar as its purpose is to make us pay attention to appearances rather than to reality.
• The Epistemological Objection: According to Plato we attain no knowledge through art because art is false and is therefore epistemologically unreliable. Artists do not provide us with the logos or the rational principle for what we experience.
• The Moral Objection: According to Plato, to be distracted from the pursuit of the good or to be distracted from developing a proper i=harmonious inner psychic order is immoral. Insofar as art depicts heroes and gods doing immoral things it does not inspire us to be great; insofar as art is illusion, it encourages us only to pretend to be good. In addition, art does not appeal to the highest faculty of the soul, which is reason because it relies on images. Rather than appealing to intellect or rationality, art appeals to the emotions which re antisocial and are also personally destructive.
