When the modes of the music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them. —Plato
PHOTOGRAPHER’S JOURNAL: According to Plato, there were two subjects essential to educate young people for their role in his Republic: music and gymnastic. Gymnastic prepared the body developing muscle and coordination, music prepared the soul by reaching deep inside us. By music, Plato meant also poetry; by extension music might include all artistic expression. As Pater reminds, “All art aspires to the condition of music.”
When Plato talks of the “basic laws of the state” changing, he is looking through the telescope from the opposite end than John Ruskin was (see previous blog post). Ruskin believed art was the truest measure of a society; Plato would agree, but he was more interested in controlling than measuring.
What do we learn about ourselves from the music and the art of our time?
