João Victor de Oliveira Ferreira

This project examines the critique of poetry in Plato’s Republic as a decisive response to the longstanding dispute between philosophy and poetry. Starting from the question of the rightful place of poetic discourse in the kallipolis, the research investigates how Plato’s criticism of poetry unfolds in a non-homogeneous manner throughout the dialogue — from a regulatory stance in Books II and III to a radical condemnation in Book X. To understand this transformation, the study analyzes the interplay of key dimensions of Platonic thought — theological, psychological-moral, ontological, and political. The central hypothesis holds that poetry occupies a liminal position within the ideal city’s structure: if it remains misaligned with the rational models that sustain the order of the kallipolis, it must be excluded