MORAL EDUCATION AND THE AESTHETIC FORM OF MUSIC IN PLATO’S REPUBLIC AND ARISTOTLE’S POLITICS

Text topic: An Ethical Reading of Art

Text author: Душан Миленковић

This paper examines Plato’s and Aristotle’s views on the role of music in moral education, with special emphasis on the chapters of Republic and Politics dealing with musical harmony and musical scales, regarded as formal aspects of music as an art form. Comparing these two philosophers’ positions their approach to the art of music appears to be different, which seems to have consequences in terms of both their conceptions of education and their aesthetics. Pointing out the differences in their choice of musical scales and instruments suitable for education, the paper discusses whether the reasons why these differences exist are to be found in their own philosophical doctrines or in the conventionally established musicianship of their epoch to which both these authors refer but reach different conclusions.