The Analysis Of Music Education Thought For Xunkuans’s And Aristotle’s Ethical Thinking

Xun Kuang and Aristotle are the synthesizers in Chinese pre-Qin and ancient Greek philosophy history. Many of their ethical thought and music education ideas are still shiny in today’s society. In the course of writing this paper, I have analyzed and summarised the ethical thoughts and music education ideas of both Xun Kuang and Aristotle through reading literatures. Besides, through this process I hope to achieve the purpose of taking history as a mirror to review the contemporary music education.Xun Kuang inherited the concepts of"benevolence"and"ritual"in Confucian, and absorpted the Legalists thought of "rule by law", and he also advocated the combination of the two concepts. As the effect of "falling ot music ceremony"social reality, he brought about the theory of "evil nature"and criticized Mencius’theory of "goodness nature"at the same time. In "human nature of evil", he advocated that "evil is human’s nature and the good is from nurture"," the mortal to man, as of evil", and " the gentleman and the villain, it also". In his view, people are born with the love of profits and all kinds of desires like sensual. Because people are not born with good nuture they want to achieve it through learning. Xun Kuang also believed the act that people is an embodiment of human evil. What’s more, he also insisted that no matter whether he is a gentleman or not, the nature of them are the same--that is evil. The so-called good and honest is cultivated when grew up. Musical eaucation is a good way that could help people to be a gentleman.Aristotle have not made a hypothesis about whether human’s nuture is good or not. He believed that whether people’s moral character is good or not mainly depend on how to use the ability that God give them. In his work "political science" he hold the view that once people tend to be good he is an excellent animal, while when separated from law and justice he would degenerate into the worst animal." Therefore, to Aristotle’s theory people can, become good or bad. A person is social, and a good state of construction can not separate from the people. So educating and guiding people to be good is essential for city construction. Aristotle’s education is divided into practical and leisure education. And music belongs to the latter one. He believed that music can imitate human’s nature, and music education can mould a person’s temperament as well as purific.ating the soul. So it is necessary to set music in education. Moreover those music for education should choose the melodies and tones which can culture human morality so that people can get virtue cultivation in a joyfull atmosphere.Xun Kuang and Aristotle are both take a positive attitude about the role of music. And they believed music can cultivate people’s moral character and knew the relationship between music and society as well as the political function of music. Their point of view has a reference significance for the contemporary society.