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Single Idea 2846

[catalogued under 21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality]

Full Idea

We must regard music as a stimulus to virtue, capable of making a certain kind of character (just as gymnastic training produces a body of a certain type).

Gist of Idea

Music can mould the character to be virtuous (just as gymnastics trains the body)

Source

Aristotle (Politics [c.332 BCE], 1339a20)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Politics', ed/tr. Sinclair,T.A. /Saunders,T. [Penguin 1992], p.462


A Reaction

He makes a sustained claim for this, but without explicit justification. I am totally convinced that the music of Bach improves us, but I have no idea why.