Communications in Humanities Research
- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences
Vol. 29, 19 April 2024
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
By comparing the Music thoughts contained in two classical music books, Record of Music (yue ji樂記) and Plato’s Republic, this paper analyzes the similarities and differences in their cognition of "the origin, essence, and function of music" due to their different social backgrounds and cultures. Both Record of Music and Plato’s Republic were born in the era of the alternation of the old and the new in the slave society. However, the slave society in the Spring and Autumn Period of China and the slave society in the democratic era of ancient Greece have different specific historical characteristics, and their different characteristics in economic development are bound to be reflected in ideology and culture. Thus, different cultures have developed different music.
Plato’s Republic, Record of Music, Aesthetics of music, Musical thoughts
1. Zehou, L. (1981). Mei de li Cheng (The Course of Beauty). Cultural Relics Publishing House.
2. Wong, M. (1998). A Comparison between the Philosophies of Confucius and Plato as Applied to Music Education. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 32(3), 109–112. https://doi.org/10.2307/3333312
3. Lang, Y. (1985). Outline of the History of Chinese Aesthetics. Shanghai People's Publishing House.
4. Huang, M (2013). History of Chinese Music and Culture. Shanghai: China Renmin University Press.
5. Confucius C. Legge J. Chai C. & Chai W. (1967). Li chi: book of rites: an encyclopedia of ancient ceremonial usages religious creeds and social institutions. University Books.
6. Plato., Emlyn-Jones, C. J., & Preddy, W. (2013). Plato’s Republic. Harvard University Press.
7. Huang, H. (2012). Why Chinese people play Western classical music: Transcultural roots of music philosophy. International Journal of Music Education, 30,161-176. https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761411420955
8. Cook, S. (1995). “Yue Ji” -- Record of Music: Introduction, Translation, Notes, and Commentary. Asian Music, 26(2), 1–96. https://doi.org/10.2307/834434
9. Fa, Z. (2010). Chinese and Western aesthetics and cultural spirit.
10. Cai, Zhongde. (1990). Commentaries and Translations of Materials for History of Music Aesthetics in China. Beijing: Renmin Yinyue Chubanshe.
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open Access Instruction).