From Politics to Poetics: Musical Education in Aristotle
Keywords:
POLITICS, POETICS, EDUCATION, MUSIC, ARISTOTLEAbstract
Considering the importance that Aristotle attributes to musical education in Politics VII-VIII, it is strange that he makes no mention of it either in his ethical treatises or, above all, in the Poetics. In the last thirty years interpreters have resorted to various explanations to elucidate the political silence of his Poetics. However, the main connection is offered by Aristotle himself when in Pol. 8. 7, 1341 b 36-40 he promises to explain more clearly what he means by katharsis in his writings on poetics. The implicit continuity that he draws between both works reveals both similarities and differences with regard to the emotions that, in each case, are involved in katharsis. The purpose of this article is to point out the main points of contact between the programme of musical education that he outlines in Politics and the considerations that he presents in the Poetics, paying attention not only to the different aspects highlighted by the most recent interpretations, but especially to the link that the Stagirite himself establishes and that allows us to think about this connection on the basis of the emotions that katharsis brings into play.
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