In The Republic, Plato asserted that art—the product of creative activity—was a potentially dangerous stimulant that threatens the stability of a society. It stimulates visions of an allegedly better life than the one being experienced. Therefore, Plato saw art as a disruptive social influence. In contrast, Aristotle saw art as cathartic, a palliative for dissatisfaction, hence a producer of social stability and contentment. He saw art as recreation, something from which one extracts pleasure here and now.
