Musical paideia in Plato’s republic

Abstract

This thesis intends to unsettle, at least to some degree, the conviction that music, poetry and fine arts in general do not have a salient status in Platonic philosophy. To this end, the conception of musical education that we find in the Republic, in which there is a harsh criticism of poetry, is examined. First a picture of the education environment that harbors virtue is offered through a comparative review of dramatic and figurative examples from the dialogues that are involved with the themes of love and beauty such as the Symposium and Lysis in addition to the Republic. Then follows an articulation of Plato’s imitation theory of fine arts together with its aesthetical, ethical and political outlooks. However in result of a scrutinization of the musical analysis that is expounded in Republic III, it is maintained that his understanding of fine arts is not limited with the notion of imitation and a conception of a type of fine arts, which stems from the virtuous soul rather than the appearances and which is based upon a knowledge of soul’s nature, is detected in Platonic philosophy. In parallel, it is concluded that the birth of the virtue of moderation in the education community is obtained by the blending of the teacher’s virtuous soul with the sensual desires of the student whose soul is by nature capable of virtue, in the context of musical practice. On the other hand, lastly, the virtue of courage is inspected to be generated in the community by the elements of sensual beauty that arise from the communal harmony and that represent virtue in a beautiful way so that they entice the student into virtue and preclude him from deserting true opinion.