What’s the Use of a Good Cry?

Dear Classical Wisdom Member,

Have you ever found yourself inexplicably moved to tears by a film, or left a theater with a strange sense of emotional release, as if some inner weight had lifted? You might have called it "cathartic" and gone on with your day, never giving a second thought to why that moment mattered.

But what if that fleeting experience of emotional purging wasn’t just personal...it was philosophical? What if it was rooted in a centuries-old debate between two of the greatest minds of the ancient world?

Welcome to the spirited and surprisingly modern tug-of-war between Plato and Aristotle. On the surface, it’s a discourse about poetry, tragedy, and ancient drama. But beneath it lies something much more intimate: a question about the very nature of our emotions and their place in a good life.

Plato, ever the rationalist, worried about emotions clouding our judgment. In his ideal society, the soul should be ruled by reason, free from the unruly waves of pity, fear, or pleasure. To him, poetry was a dangerous seducer...luring the soul away from its loftier purpose.

Then comes Aristotle. He doesn’t just disagree, he redirects the conversation entirely. For him, poetry was not a threat to reason but a tool for emotional education.

And at the heart of his defense lies a single word: catharsis.

But what is catharsis, really? Aristotle doesn’t exactly hand us a user manual. The term appears just once in his Poetics, nestled neatly into his definition of tragedy, and yet it carries the full weight of his philosophical rebuttal. In trying to decode it, we not only uncover a rich dialogue between reason and emotion but also stumble into a meditation on how art shapes us as moral beings.

Why does this matter today? Because we are still having this debate. We still question whether emotional expression weakens or strengthens us. We still wonder if the arts are indulgent distractions or necessary guides for a meaningful life. And perhaps most urgently, in a world that often asks us to mute our feelings in favor of productivity or logic, we still seek places, like films, books, songs, where we are allowed to feel.

So, pour yourself a glass of wine, open your heart just a little, and step into the philosophical theater where reason and emotion take center stage. Aristotle has a few lines that might just change the way you see your next cathartic cry...

All the best,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

How does Aristotle use catharsis to defend poetry against Plato's harsh critiques? Become a Member to enjoy the full article and dive into the timeless debate.

Catharsis: Aristotle’s Defense of Poetry

By Visnja Bojovic

Surely, we are all familiar with the term “catharsis.” A significant number of us have probably used it from time to time to describe an experience, such as when we leave a movie saying “That was cathartic!”

Yet, how many of us know what it really means, who came up with it, and, most importantly, why? It is quite possible that no one does, but let’s not take this pessimistic approach, and let’s try and see what we do know.

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