“…COMO EL SUEÑO Y LA BEBIDA”: ARMONÍA ESTRUCTURAL Y SERVIDUMBRE MUSICAL EN LA REPÚBLICA DE PLATÓN

Plato’s dialogues clearly show that, in Ancient Greece, music is not a balm nor mere amusement. Music is a cultural device of production, improvement and perpetuation of psychic identity and political community: ethos and condition sine qua non of the polis. Music is not stored in the hermetic chest of social elites nor in the palace of erudition: it belongs to the more epidermic dimension of daily life, and, in that sense, it becomes an urgent topic within the realms of ethical reflection (how to live individually and collectively), pedagogic (how to educate for common life) and political (how to rule and how to be ruled). This paper underlines the educational dimension of music in Plato, paying special attention to its bifrontal nature (remedy and poison) and its capacities, both constructive (of the Self and the Polis) and destructive (of psychic and political stability).