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this comic poet, had created?
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The allusion to Aristophanes and the comic poet
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is a part of what Plato calls in Book X of the Republic,
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the old quarrel between philosophy and poetry.
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This quarrel is a staple of Plato's dialogues, is a central theme,
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not only of the Symposium in which Aristophanes and Socrates
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are actually shown at the same dinner table with one another.
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But, it is also a key feature of the Republic which we will
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be reading in a week, where Socrates offers
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an elaborate proposal for the censorship and control of poetry,
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if it is to be made compatible with the demands of political justice.
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In fact, in a way you cannot understand the Republic