Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), named Qiu and courtesy name Zhongni, was a native of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period. He was an educator, thinker, and musician in ancient my country. He was also the earliest and most influential music educator.

Platon (427 BC - 347 BC), the most famous idealist philosopher in ancient Greece, was the first person in the history of Western philosophy to create a complete objective idealist philosophical system.

Comparison between the two:

1. The educational ideological system attaches great importance to the educational function of music education

Confucius ran private schools and used ritual and music as the teaching content the main part. "Confucius taught his disciples in poetry, calligraphy, etiquette, and music, and among the three thousand disciples, there were two in seventy who were proficient in the six arts." ("Historical Records", the six arts are: etiquette, music, archery, driving, calligraphy, and counting. In terms of teaching content, music education is placed second; in terms of teaching materials, the "Six Books" are "Poetry", "Book", "Li", "Yue", "Yi" and "Spring and Autumn". As a basic teaching material.

As a reflection of the educational system, Confucius’ educational content for cultivating people generally includes the four teachings of “Wen, Xing, Zhong, and Xin” (“Confucius’ Four Teachings: Wen, Xing” , Loyalty, Faith." "The Analects of Confucius·Shuer"). It also includes "knowledge (wisdom)", "brave", "art", "righteousness", "ritual" and "music". And "music" is Confucius's "Four Teachings" "One of the important subjects in "literary" education. "Zi Lu asked the adults, and Zi said: 'If Zang Wuzhong knows (wisdom), public servants don't want to do it, Bian Zhuangzi is brave, Ran Qiu's art, writing is based on ritual and music , can also be an adult." ("Xianwen"), he believed that music is indispensable in a person's comprehensive cultivation, and people who lack musical talent are not complete people, so he put forward the idea of ??"promoting poetry and establishing etiquette. The educational thought of "achieving in music" ("Tai Bo").

"Confucius said: 'Aspire to the Tao, base on virtue, rely on benevolence, and wander in art'" ("Shu Er"), The "Tao" here is consistency, "virtue" is the foundation, "benevolence" is the refuge, and "art" is the free play. The "art" that Confucius said about "playing in art" is the "six arts". "Wandering in Art" is not only the deficiency of the first three, but sometimes the completion after the first three. It is through the comprehensive grasp and application of objective regularities, the realistic realization of human freedom, and the completion of "Zhidao" and "According to De". "Relying on benevolence" refers to the comprehensive development and personality history of a person. Similar to "playing in art" is Confucius's educational proposition of "achieving in happiness". Just as "playing in art" is higher than "Zhidao" and "according to morality" "According to benevolence" and "achieving in music" also refer to the completion of personality that is higher than "prospering in poetry" and "establishing in etiquette". It is through the cultivation of "music" that a well-rounded person is created. From the perspective of personal growth, we should also follow the principle of "prospering in poetry, establishing in etiquette, and achieving in music". What needs to be pointed out here is that "music" in "The Analects of Confucius" has two different meanings: one is that it refers to music. The "music" in "Literary Music" is related to the operational behavior of music ("art"); the second refers to the joy of music education, which is a summary of the behavior of music education. Confucius advocates the use of music to complete the cultivation. The subtle influence in the aesthetic process of music makes people's spiritual realm perfect and become a "benevolent person" that conforms to Confucian political requirements and moral norms. Here, music is regarded as an important means of cultivating and shaping people ("adults"). The main content of Confucius' music education mentioned above can be summarized in 21 words, which is the so-called: aspire to Tao, base on virtue, rely on benevolence, play in art, thrive in poetry, establish in etiquette, and achieve in music. Obviously, the completion of "music" here is the final stage of education. Before that, the students take the completion of poetry and music as a prerequisite, and never leave the joy of music education. Therefore, it cannot be equated with general music education. This just proves that music education is indispensable at all times in Confucius' overall education system.

Plato attached great importance to the important role of music education in talent cultivation. He believed that music has a subtle effect on human education. "Music education is much more important than other education" (Plato's "State"), advocating that music is a required course for all national education, and children should learn music from an early age. In the education plan he designed, he pointed out: "Children as future rulers, whether boys or girls, must devote themselves to the study of sports and music before the age of 17 or 18. (Considering music as an important compulsory subject Subjects) followed by arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, sound science (mathematical theory of music); at the age of 30, outstanding candidates are selected to study again

The science of "goodness" - dialectics (or philosophy). Use literature to introduce them to the great deeds of mankind, use music to reveal the true meaning of beauty and goodness in their imaginations, make their lives have "rhythm", "melody", and be full of "harmony" like music, and make their behavior graceful." . Therefore, music education in children is the most important. If a child receives a good education since childhood, rhythm and harmony are immersed in the depths of his soul and take root firmly there, he will become gentle and polite; if he receives a bad education, the result will be the opposite. Furthermore, a child who has received proper education will be very disgusted with ugly things, and will be very appreciative of beautiful things, feel inspired by them, and absorb nutrients from them, so that his soul can grow into something beautiful and kind.

For any ugly thing, he can unconsciously condemn it as if he dislikes the smell. Although he is still young, he still knows it but does not know why. When he grows up and becomes rational, he will feel like he has seen it before, because of his upbringing. It is natural for him to seek the same spirit. Influenced by his thoughts, in order to train the children of the slave-owning class into strong fighters and cultivated "stewards", Sparta in ancient Greece set up schools to teach them cultural knowledge, sing hymns and war songs, and put music into Education was combined with religious dance and military training to achieve the purpose of making Spartans moderate and cultivated. Therefore, "the spirit of discipline and obedience prevailed in Sparta." (Xenophon's "City State of Sparta"). Athens education in ancient Greece formed a relatively complete education system to cultivate the harmonious development of body and mind. From the age of 7, boys have to go to grammar school to study grammar and music school (also known as playing piano school), mainly learning singing, musical instruments and poetry recitation.

2. Pay attention to the social function of music moral education

Confucius attaches great importance to the social function of music moral education. "Confucius said: 'If a person is not benevolent, what is etiquette? If a person is not benevolent, What joy is there?'" ("The Analects of Confucius·Eight Yi"), we can know from this that if there is etiquette but no benevolence, the hierarchy and the order of nobility and rank prescribed by etiquette cannot be maintained. "How can people be happy if they are not benevolent?" It fully realizes that happiness has the characteristics of making the king and his ministers harmonious, father and son harmonious, brothers harmonious, and the world harmonious. In Confucius' view, "Le" is most suitable for promoting benevolence and benevolent government. It can harmonize interpersonal relationships and coordinate hierarchical relationships. At the same time, in the content of "Le", it is required to use benevolence to make up for the shortcomings of propriety, to make gains and losses to propriety, and to make Le The content is consistent with etiquette, advocating the use of etiquette and music methods, and implementing the doctrine with "benevolence" as the core. He used "music" as a means to cooperate with "ritual", gave "music" the political function of governing the world, and proposed "ruling the country with rituals and music". "("Xiao Jing·Guang Yao Dao") The proposition that "rituals are for external cultivation, and music for internal cultivation" aims to use rituals to regulate people's external behavior and to use music to cultivate people's inner qualities. This idea reflects his intention to use music to transform social atmosphere.

Plato attaches great importance to the educational function of music. He believes that through music education, they can "behave gracefully", so that people who have received correct education have a noble soul and have the ability to "keenly detect omissions or errors in art or nature." "(Plato's "Protagoras"), in Plato's view, excellent music can change people's mental outlook and influence people's behavior; it can promote people to form perfect characters and develop good behavioral habits. These are not only the qualities that the managers and defenders of the city-state must possess, but also the "realms" that all citizens should strive to achieve. Even women should be educated in poetry and music, but the "songs" used should be different from those used to educate men.

3. Evaluation criteria of music aesthetics

The evaluation criteria of music aesthetics determined by Confucius - perfection.

While Confucius emphasized the ideological nature and educational role of music, he also attached great importance to the artistry of music. "When Zi heard "Shao" in Qi Dynasty, he didn't know the taste of meat in March, and said: "I don't want to do it for pleasure!" ("The Analects of Confucius·Shuer") "Shao" music is the music and dance of Shun's time, and it is a novel Works that reflect the highest level of primitive society. The so-called "Xiao Shao 90%, Phoenix Comes to the Instrument" ("Shang Shu·Yi Ji"), the style of this music and dance is "moist and harmonious, like the arrival of the south wind" ("Le Wei·Dynamic Sound Instrument") The style is beautiful and lyrical , like the spring breeze blowing on your face. The artistic level is so high (perfect) that it is mesmerizing. The content is good (as good as it gets). The content of this work is to praise Yao's literary virtues. "Confucius said: 'Shao' is as beautiful as it is good" ("The Analects of Confucius·Shuer, Baqian"). It believes that this music and dance best embodies the content ("virtue") and the pursuit of it. The purpose of the close unity of art (art form). "Confucius said: 'Wu' is perfect, but not perfect." "Wu" is the music and dance of King Wu of Zhou Dynasty. The content is: "King Wu defeated Zhou to eliminate his harm, and said that his virtue can be achieved by martial arts" ("Zhou Li, Chun Guan, Da Sile"). The content of the work is to praise King Wu of Zhou's military exploits in defeating Zhou and show the whole process of King Wu's defeat of Zhou. Music and dance. It is a very artistic dance in ancient times and is a very famous martial dance. He felt that although the artistic level of the music and dance was very high and perfect, the only flaw was that the content of this music and dance represented the use of force to conquer the world, rather than the image of Yao, Zen, and Shun that he most admired. , Shun let Yu replace the political power with peace in the age of abdication, so he made an evaluation of "it is perfect, but not perfect". Confucius believed that a good work should be a perfect combination of form and content, that is, it should be both beautiful and good. The form (art) should be beautiful and the content should be good, and the two should be unified. This dialectical thought established my country's ancient music aesthetic evaluation standards.

Plato believed: “We have always used sports for the body and music for the soul.

"Rhythm and melody have the strongest power to infiltrate the depths of the soul. If the education method is appropriate, beauty will infiltrate the heart and beautify it..." "In addition to paying great attention to moral and social purposes, music education also You must explore beautiful things as your own purpose and educate people to be beautiful and kind" (Plato's "Utopia"). Music leads people to be good with human emotions as the axis. It has a profound influence on the value of life and the overall charm of human nature. Display and improvement play an important role. In music appreciation, people's spirits are delighted, their emotions and emotional experiences are sublimated, enriched and enriched, their sentiments are cultivated, and their quality is enhanced, ultimately promoting a harmonious and good personality.

Through comparison, it can be seen that the musical thoughts of Confucius and Plato have many similarities. In their education systems, they both attach great importance to the aesthetic function and educational function of music education. As an important content and means of educating people, we do not simply regard music as an aesthetic object, but make full use of the aesthetic characteristics of music to cultivate people's ability to appreciate beauty, feel beauty, and create beauty, which are all emphasized very prominently. The influence of music on people's emotions, quality and ethical enlightenment

The music education thoughts of Confucius and Plato are two bright pearls in the world's cultural treasure house. Learning, learning from and studying them are of great significance. Strengthening people's understanding of the cognitive function and social function of music education has far-reaching practical and historical significance.