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 also 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 "Zhi Dao" 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 rituals, 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 this, 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 who are future rulers, whether boys or girls, must devote themselves to the study of sports and music before the age of 17 or 18.
(Treat music as an important compulsory subject) followed by arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and sound (mathematical theory of music); at the age of 30, select outstanding candidates 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 childhood is the most important. If a child receives good education from an early age, rhythm and harmony are immersed in the depths of his soul and take root there, he will become gentle and polite. Bad education will have the opposite result. Furthermore, a child who has received proper education will be very disgusted with ugly things, and will appreciate beautiful things very much, feel inspired by them, and absorb nutrients from them, so that his soul can grow well. It is both beautiful and good. He can unconsciously condemn any ugly thing as if he dislikes it. Although he is still young, he still knows it but does not know why. When he grows up and comes to his senses, he will feel like he has seen it before. It is natural that the education he received made him seek the same spirit. Influenced by his thoughts, Sparta in ancient Greece established a system to train the children of the slave-owning class into strong fighters and cultivated "stewards." School, teach them cultural knowledge, sing hymns and war songs, and combine music education with religious dance and military training to achieve the purpose of making the 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. At the age of 7, he has to go to a grammar school to study grammar, and he studies music in a music school (also known as a piano school), mainly learning singing, musical instruments and poetry.
2. Pay attention to the social function of music moral education
Confucius attached great importance to the social function of musical moral education. "Confucius said: 'If a person is not benevolent, what is the etiquette? If a person is not benevolent, what is happiness?'" ("The Analects of Confucius·Eight Hundreds"), we can know from this. , if there is etiquette but no benevolence, the hierarchy and order of rank and rank stipulated by etiquette cannot be maintained. "How can people be happy if they are not benevolent?" This fully recognizes the characteristics of peace between kings and ministers, harmony between fathers and sons, harmony between brothers, and harmony in the world. In Confucius' view, "music" 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 music, there is a requirement to use benevolence to make up for the shortcomings of etiquette, to make gains and losses to etiquette, and to make people happy. The content of music is consistent with etiquette, and he advocates the use of etiquette and music means, and implements the theory with "benevolence" as the core. He uses "music" as a means to cooperate with "ritual" and gives "music" the political function of governing the world. , put forward "ruling the country with rituals and music", "To govern the people in peace, don't be good at etiquette; to change customs, don't be good at music." "("Xiao Jing Guang Yao Dao") The proposition that "rituals are to be cultivated externally, and music to be cultivated internally" aims to use rituals to regulate people's external behaviors and use music to cultivate people's inner qualities. This idea reflects He wanted to use music to transform social atmosphere.
Plato attached great importance to the educational function of music. He believed that through music education, they can "behave gracefully" and make people who have received correct education have a noble soul and possess a noble spirit. "The ability to be keenly aware of 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. , develop good behavioral habits. These are not only the qualities that managers and defenders of a city-state must possess, but also the "realm" that all citizens should strive to achieve. Even women should be influenced by poetry and music. The "songs" of education should be different from those of educating men.
3. The evaluation standard of music aesthetics
The evaluation standard of music aesthetics established by Confucius is perfection
< p> While Confucius emphasized the ideological nature and educational role of music, he also attached great importance to the artistic quality of music. "When Zi heard "Shao" in Qi Dynasty, he didn't know the taste of meat and said: 'It's not just for the sake of pleasure!'" ("The Analects of Confucius·Shuer") "Shao" music is the music and dance of Shun's time, and it is a work that reflects the highest level of primitive society. The style of the music and dance is "moist and harmonious, like the arrival of the south wind" ("Lewei Dynamic Sound Instrument"). The style is beautiful and lyrical, like the spring breeze blowing on the face. The artistic level is so high (perfect) that it makes people intoxicated. . 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 believes: “We have always used sports for the body and music for the soul.” “Rhythm and music have the strongest power to penetrate into the depths of the soul. If the education method is appropriate, beauty will be used to infiltrate it. "In addition to paying great attention to moral and social purposes, music education must explore beautiful things as its own purpose and educate people to be beautiful and kind" (Plato's "Utopia") , Music leads people to do good with human emotions as the axis. It plays an important role in the overall display and improvement of the value of life and the charm of human nature. When people appreciate music, their spirits are happy, and their emotions and emotional experiences are sublimated.
Enrichment and enrichment, the sentiment is cultivated, the quality is enhanced, and ultimately promotes the harmonious and good development of 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, and regard music education as an educational function. It is an important content and means for people; they do not regard music simply 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. They all emphasize the impact of music on people. The influence of emotion, 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 will help strengthen people’s understanding of the cognitive function and social function of music education. It has far-reaching practical and historical significance