Music and Morality
“Plato may be right, even in relation to a modern democracy,
that changes in musical culture go hand in hand with changes in the laws, since
changes in the laws so often reflect pressures from the culture” (Scruton 2010). Roger Scruton published an article titled “Music
and Morality” in February 2010. Scruton
states that he agrees with Plato in that music has a power of people. He notes that in today’s society, pop stars
are given a place high in society.
People envy pop stars, emulate pop stars, and want to be pop stars. Even though we cannot ban certain kinds of
music by law, music still influences those who make laws whether they realize
it or not. He suggests that instead of
judging music which would only serve to insult certain people who enjoy that
kind of music, that we should teach our students to analyze music instead.
Scruton goes on to state that it is hard to just a musical
idiom without judging the culture from where it came. They are not separate entities, rather, they
stem from one another. Scruton wonders
if it would be simpler to just let pop music be and reserve all analysis for “classical”
styles instead as many musicologists have suggested. However, he states “If you do submit [to
listening to pop music], the moral qualities of the music vanish behind the
excitement; if you listen, however, and listen critically as I have been
suggesting, you will discern those moral qualities, which are as vivid as the
nobility in Elgar’s Second Symphony or the horror in Schoenberg’s Erwartung” (Scruton 2010).
“In
the first place, music in some form is a language that is universal in its
appeal” (Britan pg. 48). According to
Britan, who wrote “Music and Morality” in 1904, every man in every culture
listens to music. They may not listen to
it in the same way, but they understand that music is powerful. Because music is so powerful and so popular,
Britan insists that we look into the essential nature of music itself.
Britan
states that we have gone through three major periods of creative arts: sculpture
in Ancient Greece, painting in the middle ages, and music today. When you look at sculpture and painting, it
was easy to see how they came about: artists wanted to portray what they saw
and preserve it. However, he said, this
doesn’t explain why we have music. Music
is not external nor does it attempt to imitate something that is. Because it is not external, music must come
from within from our desire to express what we feel inside.
“In social
life its power is due to the fact that it leads all to one common meeting
ground of temper and prepares the minds of all for unanimity of thought and
action by a unanimity of feeling” (Britan pg. 50). Britan’s thoughts are much like Scruton. Popular music of the time, whether it be the
early 1900s for Britan or 2010 for Scruton, is something that society holds
dear. People are influenced in their
social life by the music to which they choose to listen. Like Scruton, Britan touches on the topic of
culture. Both men are in agreement that
music is a reflection of a culture even if you aren’t talking about the moral
or ethics part of the music. As a
reflection of a certain culture, it will express the ideas of that culture.
These points brought up by
both men correspond to the idea of Plato and the Doctrine of Ethos. The Doctrine of Ethos states that music is so
powerful it has the power to influence a man to make good or bad decisions
depending on the type of music to which he listened. Plato, Scruton, and Britan all agree that
music is powerful enough to influence others.
Scruton stated that even if we can’t ban music like was suggested in
Plato’s day, we can say that lawmakers who listen to a certain type of music are
thereby influenced by that music.
Whether we know it or not, our actions and beliefs influenced by music. Plato, Scruton, and Britan all live in
different time periods through history.
However, their beliefs are the same.
References
Britan,
H. (1904). Music and morality. International Journal of Ethics, 15(1), 48-63.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2375826
Scruton,
R. (20120, February). Music and morality.
Retrieved from http://spectator.org/articles/40193/music-and-morality
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