Musical and Gymnastic Education in the Republic

Abstract

Chapter 6 examines Plato’s account of moral education in the Republic. It argues that musical and gymnastic training in the Kallipolis primarily aim at shaping the spirited part of the soul through social, political, and cultural influences and practices. In particular, music aims to make spirit gentle and instill in it the right emotional habits toward moral and immoral people, actions, and objects in the world. Gymnastics, meanwhile, aims to invigorate it and make it “strong” enough to act as reason’s “ally” effectively. Music and gymnastics also have important effects on reason and appetite as well, however. Music exercises reason and prepares it for its proper function in the souls of mature adults, and gymnastic training promotes necessary appetites while eliminating or preventing unnecessary ones.