The Ethical Power of Music: Ancient Greek and Chinese Thoughts | Zendy

Yuhwen Wang | Zendy

AI Assistant Blog Pricing

Home ZAIA Blog

Open Access

The Ethical Power of Music: Ancient Greek and Chinese Thoughts

Author(s) -

Yuhwen Wang

Publication year - 2004

Publication title -

journal of aesthetic education

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.193

H-Index - 16

eISSN - 1543-7809

pISSN - 0021-8510

DOI - 10.1353/jae.2004.0009

Subject(s) - ethos , greeks , power (physics) , disposition , aesthetics , music geography , music history , music education , personality , sociology , literature , history , psychology , art , pedagogy , social psychology , political science , law , classics , physics , quantum mechanics

Both the ancient Chinese and Greeks from around the fifth century B.C. to around third century A.D. recognized the immense impact that music has on the development of one's personality, and both regarded it as crucial in cultivation for the proper disposition in youth. Music's power over one's ethos1 that is, human disposition was emphasized by Plato and by Chinese authors of various documents.2 As will become clear, music in both cultures was considered an important means for a proper education and a powerful tool for cultivating and controlling the people of a nation-state. In both cases, the power of music was further connected to the way the universe works. Yet despite their similar views about music, the reasoning strategies used in the two cultures differ enormously. Observing how the two remote cultures conceived the relationship between music and the ethos may give us some insight to music's role in aesthetic education among us modem listeners.

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Having issues? You can contact us here

Accelerating Research