the place of pleasure (in general) in seeking the goal of life.

Cautious, Plato warns us that pleasure has the tendency to derange people the true life should neither seek for pleasures, nor entirely avoid pains, but should embrace the middle state. 1 Music, on the other hand, becomes even more dangerous when it, played and heard, brings out violent emotions or perverse characters on an individual. It is precisely for these reasons music as beneficial and harmful to man that Plato attaches a moral value to music.2 Music, for him, was serious business; it is not to be sought for its own intrinsic value, if ever it has one, nor as a mere craft or techne, let alone as mere entertainment.3 Music in general are imitations of good and evil in men.4 Music was therefore one of the factors on how morality and immorality arise in society.5 For this reason, Plato adds, it is the duty of the state, in the exercise of its police power, to censor music if ever it is to have a formative function; to make ensure that the kind of music people hear is conducive to the soul. Tempos which suit meanness and promiscuity should be banned. 6 Provide people with wrong poetry (literature) or music and by nibbling and feeding on them theyll amass badness in their minds.7 With the intervention and censorship of the state, music then would contribute to the development of the virtues, particularly that of self-discipline and courage; to the cultivation of tranquility and equanimity in young people; to the prevention of softness and brutality; to the good both of the soul and of society as a whole. Apart from being an important element in public occasions: as played or sung during gatherings,8 festivals, public worship and sacrifices, funerals, and so on, Music functions as an introduction or accompaniment to education. 9 Hence, Plato believes that music must be included in the program for primary education, devoted to the cultivation and education of children.10 Music belongs among the feeding habits that are to be prescribe d for those unmanageable animals we call children;11 it is one of the exercises which are suited to the soul of young children; it serves to implant character in the young; and is among the many bridles by which a boy is to be bound.12 Furthermore, by hearing and being nourished on fine things literature, graceful and harmonious music an individual is prepared to become affiliated with rationality, appreciative of rational harmony.13 While as yet incapable of rational understanding, he has been so nurtured that the rational mind would be greeted like an old

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Page 645 (Quote the article). Also see Platos Timaeus, p. 627) Page 643 (Quote the article) 3 Page 644 (Quote the article) 4 Page 644 (Quote the article) 5 Page 644 (Quote those inside quotation marks from the Republic 376d) 6 Page 644 (Quote those inside quotation marks from the Republic 400b) 7 Page 646 (Quote those inside quotation marks from the Republic 412a, 401c) 8 Bantam Classics, The Dialogues of Plato with an Introduction by Erich Segal (New York: Bantam Dell, 2006) Page 263 9 Page 647 (Quote the article) 10 Page 643 (Quote the article) 11 Page 648 12 Page 646 (Quote the article) 13 Also see Platos Timaeus pp. 628-629