Confucius and Plato: Harmony Between the East and the West

• In Event: Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Confucianism, Taoism, and Their Implications for Education

Abstract

This study compared the philosophies of Confucius and Plato from a music educator’s viewpoint. Both Confucius and Plato showed concerns in ideal citizens, musical authority, musical inventions, ways to achieve harmony, and types of harmony achieved. However, there were substantial differences in how they addressed these concerns. Their philosophies revealed dualistic forces to maintain balance and harmony: li and yue for Confucius and music and gymnastics for Plato, as well as ya yue and zheng sheng for Confucius and law-abiding music and non-law-abiding music for Plato. Both of them differentiated the values between entertainment and education. At the end, questions were raised in the 21st-century global context that neither Confucius nor Plato had.

Author

• Victor Fung, University of South Florida