7 - To Kalon and Music

Summary

Chapter 7 concerns to kalon and music. According to Aristotle, virtue of character and happiness are examples of to kalon, and the good person, who acts and feels correctly, does so for the sake of to kalon. While to kalon clearly means “the beautiful” in certain other contexts, there is a major debate in Aristotelian scholarship about whether to kalon has an aesthetic aspect in Aristotle’s ethics. I briefly discuss some aesthetic ideas in Aristotle’s Metaphysics, biological works, and Poetics, showing how they carry over into his ethics. I then raise some objections to the structural view of to kalon in Aristotle’s ethics. Next I discuss the ethical dimension to music – the importance of music for moral education, including a discussion of fear and sympathy and a reprise of the Philoctetes. This is followed by a discussion of the musical dimension to ethics, with music providing the best metaphor for describing the interdependence of the good person’s thought and feelings. Finally, I address the question what it means for the good person to act for the sake of to kalon, and I provide some reflections on music, contemplation, and the happy life.