pink elephant

Muckelbaur summary

Muckelbauer feels that “the concept of imitation has structured some of the most influential systems of thought, systems whose effects continue to reverberate into our own time” and “enables the Platonic nature of reality and its distinction between surface appearances and deeper truths” (Mackelbauer 61-62). His examples include: the existence of man, imitated in God’s image, Aristotle’s theory of artistic realism, language and politics; and admits to his own essay as possibly being an imitation as well.

He points out that imitation has been a well known used implement for the performance of any form education that are more likely to give rendition to imitation exercises. He addresses the theory of imitation and romanticism quoting Fiske and Spariosu suggesting that imitation is the heart of romanticism and simply that the practice imitation is refined by romanticism. He concludes that romanticis may clearly point to another form of imitation. Muckelbauer includes Farmer and Arrington’s review of scholarship on imitation pedagogy and conclude that there is no room for imitation and a thing in the past. He argues this by playing off of Nietzsche’s “God is dead; but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadows will be shown” (Mucklebauer 64) and suggests that imitation are shadows; “shadow that are structured by imitation itself, shadows that are imitations of imitation” (64).

He addresses the question of how one finds these shadows of imitation by giving attention to McKeon’s three primary meanings of imitation and give examples of imitation theory (philosophy) and day to day teaching of imitative practices (rhetoric). He then believes that the different uses of imitation cut through each other more than the usual method of categorization implies and explains in detail his three different modes made into three parts of the same thing: I. Repetition of the Same: Reproduction, in which the subject engages in a model and attempts to produce an exact replica. II. Repetition of Difference: Variation, this being quiet common, in which the subject engages in a model and produces a repetition but in a different context; and III. Difference and Repetition: Inspiration, where the subject is inspired by other works of scholar.