A Sceptic Looks at Art (but not Very Closely): Sextus Empiricus on Music
TL;DR: This paper examined Sextus Empiricus' Against the Musicians (M 6) against the background of the more general question why he has so little to say on questions that for us would fall under aesthetics.
Abstract: The paper examines Sextus Empiricus’ Against the Musicians (M 6), one of the least studied portions of Sextus’ surviving work, against the background of the more general question why he has so little to say on questions that for us would fall under aesthetics. The structure and goals of the book are considered, along with some puzzles about the consistency of his aims. Each of the two main parts is then analyzed separately, including a comparison between the first part and Philodemus’ On Music. Sextus’ apparent lack of interest in aesthetics is explained primarily by his quite general tendency to focus on foundational questions, of which the second part of M 6 is a notable instance; another, connected factor is the common ancient habit (illustrated in the first part of M 6) of treating aesthetic questions in conjunction with ethical or political ones.
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30 Nov 2020
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30 Nov 2020
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30 Nov 2020
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30 Nov 2020
TL;DR: In the context of a symposium in Chaeronea, Plutarch's home town, the authors once had a discussion about the appropriateness of "things heard" (akroamata) at dinner as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: At a symposium in Chaeronea, Plutarch’s home town, the guests once had a discussion about the appropriateness of ‘things heard’ (akroamata) at dinner. Or, at least, that is what Plutarch reports in Quaestiones convivales (7.8), the nine-book work devoted to sympotic questions in which he often stages himself as a character.Near the end of this particular discussion, the character ‘Plutarch’ defends the presence of lyre and aulos at the banquet on the grounds of tradition: the lyre has been around since Homer and the aulos is part and parcel of traditional libations. There are, however, certain restrictions. The lyre should avoid dirges and laments and stick to soothing, innocuous songs (euphēma). Similarly, the aulos is welcome as long as it ‘keeps due measure, and avoids emotional display, so as not to rouse into ecstasy (parexistas)’ (713A). Instead of instilling anything, aulos and lyre should be used to calm down the part of the soul which ‘has no notion of reason and no response to it’ (axyneton logou kai anēkoon: 713B). This already fairly limited endorsement of music is restricted even further when ‘Plutarch’ comes to his second point. In a consciously controversial statement, he bans instrumental music from the dinner table:
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Book•
01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: A fascinating portrait of the Pythagorean tradition, including a substantial account of the Neo-Pythagorean revival, and ending with Johannes Kepler on the threshold of modernism is given in this article.
Abstract: A fascinating portrait of the Pythagorean tradition, including a substantial account of the Neo-Pythagorean revival, and ending with Johannes Kepler on the threshold of modernism.
88 citations
Book•
31 Dec 2010
TL;DR: The rise of aesthetic reflection in the fifth century 5. The evidence of Aristophanes and Gorgias 6. The music of the voice 7. The voice of music 8. Sublime monuments in ancient aesthetics as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Introduction Part I. Foundations: Aesthetics, Formalism, and Materialism: 1. Aesthetic thought in antiquity 2. Form and formalism 3. Matter and appearances Part II. The Nascent Aesthetic Languages of the Sixth to Fourth Centuries BCE: 4. The rise of aesthetic reflection in the fifth century 5. The evidence of Aristophanes and Gorgias 6. The music of the voice 7. The voice of music 8. Visual experience Part III. Broader Perspectives: 9. Sublime monuments in ancient aesthetics Epilogue.
42 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the ethical motivation of the Cyrenaic views on knowledge and the good life, and discuss the nature of the pathe and its nature in the world.
Abstract: Preface Abbreviations 1. Knowledge and the good life: the ethical motivation of the Cyrenaic views on knowledge Part I. Subjectivism: 2. The nature of the pathe 3. The vocabulary of the pathe 4. The apprehension of the pathe 5. The criticism of Aristocles of Messene Part II. Scepticism: 6. The causes of the pathe: objects in the world 7. Our ignorance of other minds 8. Some remarks on language Part III. Subjectivism, Empiricism, Relativism: Cyrenaics, Epicureans, Protagoreans: 9. Cyrenaic subjectivism and the Epicurean doctrine that all perceptions are true: Plutarch, Adv. Col. 1120f-1121e 10. Cyrenaic epistemology and Protagorean relativism: some considerations 11. The Socratic connection Appendix: sources and testimonies References Index of names Index locorum Subject index.
28 citations
16 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine Sextus Empiricus' treatise Against the geometers and discuss the structure, the sources and the target of the Against the Geometers.
Abstract: In this paper, we examine Sextus Empiricus' treatise Against the geometers. We first set this treatise in the overall context of the sceptic's polemics against the liberal arts. After a discussion of Sextus' attitude to the quadrivium, we discuss the structure, the sources and the target of the Against the geometers. It appears that Euclid is not Sextus' source, and neither he, nor the professional geometers, seem to be Sextus' main targets. Of course, Sextus never really makes clear his precise target, but his attacks are rather directed against geometry as a means of modelling the physical world, thus ruining the support geometry was intended to bring to the physical part of dogmatic philosophy.
5 citations