University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2001 Music in Reality The relation of music, emotion and Pre-Socratic myth CAPLETON, BRIAN http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2241 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. 2 Music in Reality The relation of music, emotion and Pre-Socratic myth by BRIAN CAPLETON A thesis submitted to the Uui\'ersity of Plymouth in partial fulfihnent for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dartington College of Arts September 200 I UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH ltemNo. ~O ~a.3b'3 b Date 2 4 SEP 2002 ?-- liBRARY STORE 3 Brian Capleton Music in Reality The relation of music, emotion and pre-Socratic myth ABSTRACT This thesis is in two sections. The first critically examines the tradition of harmonia mrmdi. The earliest complete and developed account of musica mrmdana appears in Plato, but numerous fragmented references appear in the pre-Socratic sources. The notion that harmonia mundi originated as an idea of quantitative speeds and distances of the celestial bodies, is discredited. Rather, it is shown that it more probably originates as an expression of an 'esoteric spiritual' teaching in which selfknowledge, death, the concept of harmonia, and consequently music, are related. The idea that the greatest importance of music rests on the relationship of music and emotion, is undermined in this context, and the relationship of music, emotion and experience is examined in a way that supports much of what was asserted by Hanslick in the nineteenth century. The interpretation of ancient sources is critically assessed in terms of common 'hermeneutic filters' which are shown to be inconsistent with the content and hence context of some of the sources. It is also argued that Plato should be approached not merely through the assessment of the arguments that appear in his discourses, but in the light of his portrayal of the life and death of Socrates. The discourses are treated as inexact, exoteric expressions of esoteric meaning, much of which can be gleaned from the 'symbol' and example of Socrates' own life and death. The second section presents an original music philosophy that is an entirely contemporary exposition of the essential meaning of the harmony of the spheres tradition, as interpreted in the first section. In this contemporary exposition, some of the ideas that appear in Plato concerning the relationship of soul, world and harmonia, are re-expressed in terms of self, world, and an original contemporary 'parable' for harmonia. The background to the ancient tradition, of the macrocosm-microcosm relationship, is brought into contemporary terms, drawing critically on some ideas of the quantum physicist David Bohm, and questions raised by quantum theory in general. Finally, the nature of the macrocosm-microcosm is related to parts of Wittgenstein 's Tractatus /ogico-plri/osoplricus. 4: Acknowledgement I wish 1to acknowledge alii those' whocmade the ·production' oUhis work possible by proyiding space; ;silence; time;, rguidance, .feedback, criticism, inspiration: and :siepping stones: This indttdes :an1ongsi :others; (alphabetically) 'lacob Caple!on, Jacqueline ~apleton, <Edward Cowie;, Geraldi :Gifford, Bob 'Gilniore, Jeremy Moniagu, Max J>addison. · . · . 5 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION At no time during the registration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has the author been registered for any other University award. Signed ....... /.5.. .•.... ~ .................... Date ........... /(!?.(9..~ ...................................... 6 Contents SECTION 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 7 The beginning of music ......................................................................................................................................... 7 The Contextual Background- music and self.. ................................................................................................... I 0 The quantitative and qualitative tradition ............................................................................................................ 11 Some previous ideas of the role of self and duality in relation to 'aesthetic experience' and altered perception. 13 Chapter 1 - The harmony of the spheres ............................................................................................................. 18 An Unlikely Story ................................................................................................................................................ 26 Circumstantial Evidence ...................................................................................................................................... 32 The pre-eminence of the metaphysical One and Harmo11ia ................................................................................. 36 Confusion at source ............................................................................................................................................. 40 Number as a symbol of harmonia ....................................................................................................................... 42 Number, Nature and lntelligence ......................................................................................................................... 44 Chapter 2- Hermeneutics, the ever-present question of interpretation .......................................................... .47 The historicity filter ............................................................................................................................................. 48 The 'emergence of science' filler and the corruption of the metaphysical world-view ....................................... 51 Chapter 3 -The metaphysical harmo11ia mu11di ................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 4- The strength and continuity of the harmo11ia 1111111di tradition ....................................................... 73 SECTION 2 -A CONTEMPORARY EXPOSITION Chapter 5- Subject-orientated knowledge in Plato ............................................................................................ 84 Chapter 6- The First Repudiation of Emotion In music- Hanslick .................................................................. 91 Beyond emotion .................................................................................................................................................. 91 The insights of Hanslick ...................................................................................................................................... 92 Chapter 7 -'Macrocosm-microcosm' relationship in physics .......................................................................... 106 Consciousness and the scientific world view ..................................................................................................... li 0 The holistic universe .......................................................................................................................................... Ill The collapse of the wave function ..................................................................................................................... il5 Chapter 8- Beyond 'loss of self' in perception- Art, Involvement, and Beauty ............................................ 120 Impersonal beauty, aesthetic perception and involvement ................................................................................. i23 Chapter 9- The purpose of music ....................................................................................................................... l29 The Myth ofEr .................................................................................................................................................. l47 Chapter I 0 -The Pythagorean Circle- a symbol of harmo11ia ....................................................................... 134 Chapter 11- Harmo11ia, the universe and the soul ........................................................................................... l42 Chapter 12-Symbols of macrocosm-microcosm correspondence .................................................................. 158 An object-orientated macrocosm-microcosm 'correspondence' ........................................................................ 158 Subject-orientated correspondence .................................................................................................................... 159 Chapter 13- Further contemporary considerations on the macrocosm-microcosm ..................................... 164 Reality ............................................................................................................................................................... 164 Beyond thinking- the intellect .......................................................................................................................... 167 Appendix on 'object-orientated' and 'subject orientated' ................................................................................