Mimesis poética y critica al teatro en la carta a D'Alembert

abstract this work intends to analyze the critique of theatre found in the carta a d'alembert, to determine the conception of poetic mimesis that underlies it. we should like to show, that from the critique to the classical conception of catharsis found in the carta, it does not follow that rousseau adopted the platonic conception of poetic mimesis. we shall begin by identifying the reference to theatre within the work. in a second moment, we shall situate its critique in the context of the dispute about morality in theatre which took place in france throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. this dispute interests us, because arguments for or against morality in theatre are based on the analysis of the effects of poetic mimesis upon passions. after analysing rousseau's position about the limits of poetic catharsis, we shall inquire, in a third and last moment, whether his questioning of morality of theatre supposes the platonic conception of poetic mimesis. we shall see that rousseau, who nears plato in the analysis of the moral consequences of theatre, moves away from him, inasmuch as he does not conceive mimesis as a copy of nature.