value art and non-value art from the perspective of plato

since plato is regarded as the first philosopher who started writing on aesthetics and impacted upon artistic aesthetics following him, a review of his perspective on artistic aesthetic is of crucial importance. although fine arts in its current form have not existed at the time of plato, his ideas could be discovered from what he has sporadically expressed on fine arts. there are two viewpoints on plato's perspective on fine arts. some believe he has been for arts and have tried to justify his explicit objections to art. some others have known him against art. this study reviews plato's ideas on art irrespective of the views of his opponents and proponents. the findings show he is neither an absolute proponent nor an absolute opponent of fine arts. that is, plato believes in two types of art: value art and non-value art. he expresses some features for each type and regards absolute aesthetic (i.e. having a divine origin) as the most distinctive feature differentiating these two types of art.