The modern study of Aristotle's Poetics is often dated from latter half of the fifteenth century. But Poetics is an extraordinary difficult piece of writing, so there are many problems. In classical philology, for exemple, the history of original text, the meaning of major terms, and the distinction between the basic text and later interpolations, are discussed now. From the point of view of literary technique, Lessing praised this treatise as infallible as the Elements of Euclid and Grotius called Aristotle optimus magister. But Dilthey doubted it and said that the method of Poetics is so empirical, analytic, and inductive that it is not enough to principle of aesthetics. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff also criticized that interpretation of Greek dramas in Poetics is not historical, but ideal. But I think that the history of European theory of literature is the history of confrontation of Aristotelism with anti-Aristotelism. Even today, B. Brecht and other avant-garde artists assert non-Aristotelism and object to his theory of catharsis, organic unity and poetic justice. We must now take their opinions as a stimulant and consider the adaptation of Poetics to our times.
