curiouser and curiouser: more on the metaphysics of copyright
Written by Andrew Rens on December 3rd, 2010  In the last post I
examined how copyright law claims to give one person the power
to exclude others from a particular “expression”. But what
exactly is an expression?  According to Plato and his
successors, the transient time and space bound things which we
encounter in our everyday lives are imperfect reflections of the
Ideas or Forms, which are neither time nor space bound but
constitute ultimate reality. The Ideas of Beauty, the Good, and
Justice are what enable humans to discern good, beauty and
justice. If these were not eternal and unchanging human
knowledge would be impossible. The Idea of a horse is what
enables designating the disparate mortal animals we encounter as
horses. The animals we encounter and their representations have
something in common; they are imperfect reflections of the Idea
of horseness. Thus artistic depictions of horses need and indeed
should not try to mimic the imperfect