Background to the Avicennan interpretation of Aristotle's Poetics

Abstract

This article exposes some characteristics of the first Arab interpretations on Aristotle's Poetics. The thought of Abu Bishr Matta, al-Kindi and Alfarabi, philosophers previous to Avicenna, shows us that the Arabs included the Poetics as a logical treatise, but also they understand it through a platonic element, by considering that poetry has an ethical and pedagogical dimension. The Arabs tried to insert the Poetics into their cultural environment, but due their ignorance about Greek theater, they interpret with imprecision the literary gendes exposed by Aristotle in his work.