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    aphrodite alexandrakis

    THE ROLE OF MUSIC AND DANCE INANCIENT GREEK AND CHINESE RITUALS:FORM VERSUS CONTENT

    At the same time that this paper examines the role of rituals, specifi-cally that of dance, and the role of music in rituals in ancient Greeceduring Platos time, it also compares the Platonic formal/callisticviews on rituals to those of the Chinese philosopher Xunzi, who livedabout a hundred years after Plato (310 BC).1

    Both Plato and Xunzi were concerned with similar philosophicalissues, but their way of thinking about them differed sharply. Whilethe essence and purpose of rituals throughout the centuries remainedthe same, namely, to maintain harmonious relationships betweenhuman society and the gods,2 the relative emphasis on the contentand form (structure) varied from one society to the other. Both Platoand Xunzi used the term form, but they had different understandingsand approaches to the notion ofform. The meaning ofform in Platowill be discussed first, followed by Xunzis interpretation. I will argue

    that Xunzis notion of form as regards ceremonial rites is not con-stricted by a rational structure. In fact, Xunzis position is the oppositeof Platos: Chinese rituals, as conceived by Xunzi, are of an emotionalnature, always expressing and focusing on emotions (content) andoften associated with themes of war and combat.

    In the Laws,3 Plato praises those men who preserve measure intheir pleasures, and gives credit to the inventor of the search for thetruth and musical taste of the names, and the philosophicalinsight . . . Plato rejects the emotional impact of any act of ceremonyon man. He therefore plays down the content(message) and empha-

    sizes the form (structure), which for him is rational and consists ofseveral abstract elements, three of which are fundamental: harmony,rhythm, and symmetry. Indeed, according to the formalistsPlatowas one of the earliest representativesform, whether in art or in anyof the other areas of music, dance, and ceremonial rites, is mostimportant to the constitution of the beauty of a rational whole. ForPlato,as for all formalists (objectivists) from the classical period to the

    APHRODITE ALEXANDRAKIS, professor, School of Arts and Sciences, Barry

    University. Specialties: ancient philosophy, aesthetics, ethics. E-mail: [email protected]

    2006 Journal of Chinese Philosophy

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    twentieth century, beauty consists of the three essential elements ofharmony, rhythm, and symmetry. The term harmony was first men-tioned and analyzed by Pythagoras. It means fitting together, a

    rhythmic, and balanced flow of lines, colors, shapes, words or writtenactions from one part to another.This leads naturally to a harmoniouseffect that produces a feeling of calmness about a complete whole,which can be readily perceived by the spectator.This idealized calm-ness is imprinted on the early fifth-century Athenian sculptures andsculptural relief and it gives them the serene, lofty beauty and gran-deur of a rational construct. One of the best examples is the interiorsculptural relief of the Parthenon above the Doric columns.

    Plato was very particular in analyzing and defining the notion ofform.Inthe Phelibus, for example, he analyzes the notion of pureform

    (schematon kallos) by referring to the straight and solid curved lines:

    The principle of goodness has reduced itself to the law of beauty. Formeasure and proportion, always pass into beauty and excellence. Forwhen I say beauty of form, I am trying to express, not what mostpeople would understand by the words . . . but . . . the straight lineand the circle and the plane and solid figures formed from these byturning lathes and rulers and patterns of angles; for these I affirm tobe not only relatively beautiful . . . but they are eternally and abso-lutely beautiful, and they have peculiar pleasures, quite unlike thepleasures of irritating an itching place . . . And there are colors which

    are of the same character, and have similar pleasures . . . Whensounds are smooth and clear, and utter a single pure tone . . . they arenot relatively beautiful but absolutely beautiful . . . 4

    Plato appreciates and values pure form, which is the result of thewell-calculated spatial relations of the shapes and lines involved.Thus, despite the fact that Plato is against most forms of art, he acceptsworks of art made of pure form. This pure form, or formal quality,produces an aesthetic emotion, or intellectual appreciation, in theperceiver, which is quite similar to the one described by Clive Bell,namely that emotion has an intellectual (i.e., nonsensual) nature; the

    same emotion one experiences when solving a mathematical equa-tion. This emotion is the response to the formsignificant formwhich is universal and eternal.5 This kind of emotion is quite differentfrom the emotions we experience in everyday life. In common every-day emotions, form is conceived in its relation to content and theemphasis is on content. As will be shown, contrary to the Platonicnotion of rites, the Chinese rituals according to Xunzi focus on humanemotions, that is, the content and message, and not on the rationalaspect of theform and structure.These two aspects result in two kinds

    of beauty:formal(objective) and sensual(subjective). Formalbeautyis a unity in variety (unity of formal elements such as lines, shapes,structured symmetrically rhythmically and harmoniously) based on a

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    callistic (intellectual beauty) principle. Both formal and sensualbeauty is found in rituals and in music.

    Most Greek rituals and religious laws originate from the oracles of

    Delphi and Dodona, which were the most famous religious as well aspolitical centers. All rituals were dedicated to the gods. Dedicationsand consecrations of statues, altars, and the like were prescribed bythe oracle of Delphi and Dodona, and according to Plato, female ormale priests act as sacristans for the gods.6 The practice of ritualswas an important part of the festivals, where dancing and music werealso central activities. However, as will be argued, contrary to theexuberant Chinese presentation of music and rituals, Plato preferredthe controlled, calculated dance movements and the simple, calm,music of the Dorian scale that is devoid of sensuality and emotion.

    Platos love for calm and rhythmicalhence rationaldance move-ments and melody is reflected in his statement that just as mothers puttheir babies to sleep by rocking them in their arms and humming atune, so the Dionysian priestesses should combine the movement ofdance and song. Thus the external motion dominates the internalwhich is the source of the fright or frenze. By its domination it pro-duces a mental sense of calm and relief.7 Hence, the rational struc-ture of the calm dance movements is controlled, and form dominatescontent, which in this case, is frenze.

    There were some dances, the bacchanals for example, which, forPlato, were a mimic exhibit of persons affected by liquor, and he haddifficulty determining their purpose.8 He therefore rejected this typeof dance, which for him had no specific purpose as they consist ofviolent, frenze movements. However, Plato did distinguish the bac-chanal dances from those of war and peace.9 He explained that theeducated and disciplined mans dance movements will not be violent:the more sober the man and the more schooled to fortitude, the lessviolent the movement.10 Thus, dancing has two species: The comicand the serious, the latter having a dignified effect while the former is

    ludicrous. The serious kind of dance has two subspecies: One repre-sents the movements of the comely body and its valiant soul in battleand its toils of enforced endurance. The other, the bearing of thecontinent soul in a state of prosperity and duly measured pleasure.11

    This is the dance of peace. Plato favors the dance of peace because ofhis formal theory based on rationality that values well-calculated andnonemotional body movements that reflect the formal, objective ele-ments of harmony, rhythm, and symmetry. As he states, this dancereflects the right attitude in which there is a well braced posture

    which represents the good body and good mind, and in which thebodily members are kept straight . . .12 Another kind of dance is thewar dance or Pyrrhic dance which depicts the motions of eluding

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    blows and shots of every kind by various devices of swerving, yieldingground or crouching as well as the contrary motions which lead to aposture of attack . . .13 Thus Plato accepts the dance of war only if the

    bodily motions have the correct (nonviolent, controlled) movementsthat yield a dignified effect. On the other hand, in the peace dance theperformer must have a graceful style becoming to the law-abidingman.14 Hence, the choric expressions of vice versus virtue will givepleasure to bad men rather than the virtuous.15 This is in agreementwith his theory of the good (moral) and the beautiful (callistic) alwaysgoing hand in hand rhythmically and in harmony.

    Unlike animals, most human beings are capable of perceiving andenjoying rhythm and melody. This is noticeable in choric art whosecontent is rhythm and melody. In both dance and singing, the part

    which deals with bodily movement has rhythm in common with themovements of the voice.16 In Platos scheme of things, there are twobranches of instruction and learning: Physical culture concerned withthe body and music that aims at mental excellence. Physical cultureconsists of dancing and wrestling. Plato says:

    One department of dancing is the presentation of works of poeticalinspiration with the care of the preservation of dignity and decorum;the other, which aims at physical fitness, nobility, and beauty, ensuresan appropriate flexure and tension and actual bodily limbs and

    members, and endows them all with the grace of movement which isincidentally extended to every form of the dance and pervades allintimacy.17

    Plato insists that the performer maintain a graceful style of dancingin a way becoming to the law-abiding man. He draws a distinctionbetween questionable dances and those beyond question. The dancesthat are dedicated to and performed in the honor of the gods expressa sense of well-being. But dance cannot be performed withoutmusic, for the bodily movements by themselves do not express ormean anything in particular.18 Thus, music is an important part ofGreek rituals.

    According to Plato, proper education gives the proper surround-ings and brings out what is best in the soul. Education in music isdesigned to forge a wholesome discipline.19 Music is one of the mostimportant disciplines because

    . . . more than anything else rhythm and harmony find their way tothe inmost soul and take strongest hold upon it, bringing with themand imparting grace . . . because omissions and the failure of beautyin things badly made or grown would be most quickly perceived by

    one who was properly educated in music . . . he would praise beau-tiful things and take delight in them and receive them into his soul tofoster its growth and become himself beautiful and good 20

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    As for the teachers, Plato says, they must be very sensitive to rhythmicand melodic structure. He goes so far as to say that a man with nochoric training is uneducated.21 Moreover, the performers must also

    be educated to a degree better than that of a choir.22

    They mustunderstand and be able to judge rhythms and melodies, and only onefamiliar with the Dorian scale may be the judge of the rightness orwrongness of the rhythm. Music educates the guardians throughhabits imparting by the melody of certain harmony of spirit that is notscience, and by the rhythm, measure and grace.23 It is through music(mousike) that man develops the love of the beautiful and for Plato,the love of the beautiful is the love of the good. He says:

    . . . education in music is most sovereign, because more than anything

    else, rhythm and harmony find their way to the inmost soul and takestrongest hold upon it, bringing with them and imparting grace, if oneis rightly trained, and otherwise the contrary?24

    Accordingly, true beauty and grace spring out of the formal ele-ments of harmony, rhythm, and melody. First, one perceives theformal elements, then one loves them, and finally one recognizesbeauty that in turn reflects the good. Furthermore,

    good speech, then, good accord, good grace, and good rhythm waitupon a good disposition, not that weakness of head, which we euphe-

    mistically style goodness of heart, but the truly good and fair dispo-sition of the character and the mind.25

    Ancient Greek music is divided into several types and patterns. Onetype of song (hymn) consists of prayers to the gods; the second andcontrasting type is the lament; paeans constitute the third type, andthere is the fourth, the dithyramb (dealing with the birth of Dionysos).Furthermore, there is Nome with the qualification of citharoedic.Using one type of melody for another is not permitted. The varioustypes of music bring pleasure to a variety of audiences, just as a

    puppet show will, for example, brings pleasure to children.Thus, Platothinks that

    the standard by which music should be judged is the pleasure it gives,but not the pleasure given to any and every auditor. We may take itthat the finest music is that which delights the best men, the properlyeducated . . . above all, which pleases the one man who is supreme ingoodness and education.26

    For Plato, citizens should aim at the noblest kind of song27 and atthe kind of music that is right and not just pleasing. A man who does

    not understand the rightness of a particular production is not in aposition to discuss the goodness or badness of the work. He pointsout that some ignorant poets possessed by a frantic lust for pleasure

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    they mixed up hymns with lament and paeans with dithyrambs andcreated a universal confusion of forms.The right standard for him wasthe pleasure given to the audience.28 It follows that for Plato, the

    standard for rightness in music is not its pleasure-giving effect; plea-sure cannot be the standard of judgment. In fact, for Plato, it isblasphemous to say so.29

    Plato, as a formalist/rationalist, does not simply express his pointsof view on music but he also develops a theory on which the ceremo-nial dances of the various rituals depend. It is a theory of music for thesake of music by analyzing the objective importance of melody andrhythm, a theory not influenced by religion or human emotions. His isa formal theory emphasizing the form and the structure of music anddance by disregarding the content, that is, the underpinning message

    and the underlying feelings.One of the greatest Chinese philosophers who lived about a

    hundred years after Plato, Xunzi, had a different understanding ofmusic, dance, and rituals in general, even though his general ideas onlife are sometimes close to Platos. Xunzis cultural background gen-erated completely different approaches and ideas. In his descriptionof dance, Xunzi is brief and terse. His reference to dances such asthe Great Elegance, the Libation, the Militant, Martial,Panpipe, and a few others pertains to the music that accompanies

    them rather than the bodily movements.30

    As with the rites, thesedances originated from and were established by the various princeswho founded the dynasties such as Yu, who established the Xiadynasty. Xunzi does not give details of these dances but he records thestatements others made about them. For example, he says that whenPrince Zua of Wu witnessed the Great Elegance dance in 542 BC,he exclaimed: Admirable indeed! Zealous labors without any claimto moral power, which but Yu would have been capable of this culti-vation!31 Xunzi also informs us that themilitant dance showed theambition of King Wu. Based on the above, the craft of dance was

    apparently always associated with someone from the upper stratum ofsociety, that is, a prince or a king. The majority of the ancient Chinesedances dealt with the subjects of war, death, and killing, as such, theyfeatured and presented violent bodily movements. The Greek rituals,on the other hand, having their origins in the oracles of Delphi andDodona, were based on the worship of gods.

    In Chinese culture, the origins of rituals (li) can be traced to ances-tor worship, and the rituals were established by the ancient kings. Thebasic principles and origins of rituals, unlike the case of Platonic

    Greece, are tied to the social hierarchy and infused with moral ele-ments. Thus, while the Greek rituals are directly related to the reli-gious ceremonies established by the people and dedicated to the gods

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    the Chinese rituals (li) have a clear social basis and moral connota-tions, although it should be pointed out that the kings, because of theirelevated social hierarchical status, were almost deified. According to

    Xunzi, since men cannot curb their desires, they contend with oneanother and this results in chaos.32 To prevent and control such disor-der, the ancient kings established the rites. Xunzi claims:

    The Ancient Kings abhorred such disorder; so they established theregulations contained within ritual and moral principles in order toapportion things, to nurture desires of men, and to supply the meansfor their satisfaction . . .33

    As for rites, they

    are the highest expression of order and discrimination, the root ofstrength in the state, the Way by which the majestic sway of authorityis created . . .34

    According to Xunzi, ritual principles have three roots:The root of life(heaven and earth); the root of kinship (forebears); and the root oforder (lords and teachers). These principles provide peace and secu-rity for men. People succeed in life only if they proceed in accordancewith the Way of ritual principles. Only when people act in accordancewith the moral principles and rituals and observe good form andreason do they nurture their emotions.35 By good form Xunzi meanshonoring the roots. As for reason he refers to employing familiar

    foods.36 When people act in accordance with moral principles andrituals, observing good form and reason, they nurture their emo-tions. Thus Xunzis notion of good form and the rational in rituals isquite different from Platos.

    While Xunzis focus of rituals is concerned with how to nurture theemotions and fulfill the obligations that lead to the Way,37 Platosthought on this is purely rationalistic. Rituals, for Plato, are a part ofthe citizens obligation to fulfill religious and social obligations only.There is nothing poetic or mythical in his perception of rites. On the

    contrary, Xunzis view is poetic, moral, and perhaps even primal in thesense that it expresses rituals importance in mans life as it is relatedto the cosmos. He says:

    Through rites, Heaven and Earth are conjoined,the sun and moon shine brightlythe four seasons observe their natural precedence,the stars and planets move in ranksthe rivers and streams flow,and the myriad things prosperThrough them, love and hate are tempered,and joy and anger made to fit the occasion38

    In Xunzis thinking, ritual principles are the basis of the highest senseof morality and social order which are in accord with the natural

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    order. Since rituals embrace moral principles, and not just desires andemotion, personal involvement and participation in ritual practice willsatisfy and fulfill ones ritual duties, desires, emotions, and morality at

    the same time, for music affects our inner states and alters ourcharacter.39 As a result, those who observe rituals become perfect.However, Xunzi does not explain the structure of this perfection.Furthermore, he bases perfection on rather external elements. Once aperson fulfills his ritual duties, he is perfect. Mans evil nature istransformed by his participation in rituals. Contrary to Platos empha-sis on forms objective elements, Xunzis notion of perfection is basedboth on moral attainment and ritual adherence to the external formsof rituals. A person trained in rituals is an expert in everything, somuch so that he may even be considered an expert designer:

    The overall design, the elegant composition is the achieved result, thebeauty of variation of color, ornamentation and pattern realized inthe fabric, painting, or building as well as in the movement of poetry,song, or dance. It is made brilliantly manifest and apparent as thebadge of accomplishment of the gentleman who has masteredritual.40

    Thus, a man who has not mastered rituals would not have been able tocreate such a design. This view is in sharp contrast to Platos, whichdeclares that only the rationally educated personnot the person

    trained in ritualswould be capable of creating a rationally aestheticwhole.Mastering the rituals, for Xunzi, is important. The only way to

    achieve this is by following the teachers guidance. Hence, the teach-ers role in shaping ones life is crucial. It is the teacher who will helpthe individual to achieve a balanced and harmonious personality. Hewill help the person to regulate the qi and cultivate the mind . . . Theproper way to regulate the qi and cultivate the mind is to softentemperament with balance and harmony.41 Through the teacher, apersons involvement with rituals is rectified. For it is the teacher who

    knows which ritual is correct. Xunzi goes so far as to say that the wayto become a sage is by reaching the teachers level of understanding.Such a view is in sharp contrast with the Platonic way of thinking asregards perfecting oneself and the teachers role in life. According toXunzi, the teacher and the practice of rituals enabled and moldedmoral cultivation. In Plato, as reflected in his Myth of the Cave,individuals must struggle by themselves to achieve knowledge and theGood through reasoning only.

    Rites, for Xunzi, are the highest expression of order . . . , the root

    of strength in the state, the way by which the majestic sway of author-ity is created.42 It follows that Chinese rituals depend on that majes-tic authority the hierarchical social role of the ancient kings which is

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    quite different from Platos hierarchical notion based on reason andnot social status. For Xunzi, a person well acquainted with ritualprinciples has methods and standards.43 Rites, he says, trim what is

    too long . . . , eliminate excess, remedy deficiency, and extend culti-vated forms that express love and respect so that they increase andcomplete the beauty and conduct according to ones duty.44 Hence,the adoption and exercise of rituals form the basis of a morallyordered life. By behaving according to rituals, the emotions are atpeace.45 Ritual is the means by which ones person is rectified46 andthat leads to completion and fulfillment.47

    Xunzi is also interested in musics effect on man. What sustainstranquility in life, he contends, is music (yue, musical instruments/musicians), happiness and elegant adornment through rituals. While

    rituals alter the individuals character, music transforms the inwardmovements of the mind.48 Music, he said, is joy. With joy, it producesan inner serenity and repose. Being an essential part of mansemotional nature, the expression of Joy is, by necessity, inescapable.49

    But as with rituals, for Xunzi, it was the ancient kings who createdmusic to celebrate de (power):

    Music provides the means to secure de (Power) and morality, themeans to find a home in it . . . The highest embodiment attained inritual is also the perfection of expression attained in music.50

    Even though Xunzi wrote about the importance of music in rituals, hedid not develop a theory as Plato did. His understanding of music isnowhere close to Platos rational, systematic analysis. For Xunzi,music gives form to natural language of sound and movement. So,sounds change according to the emotion involved.51 Music is appre-ciated for what it accomplishes by accompanying rituals and theemotion it creates. This is far from Platos objective appreciation ofmusic for its intrinsic value. As Plato points out in his criticism ofEgyptian music, it is possible to canonize melodies which exhibit an

    intrinsic rightness permanently by law.52 It is interesting to note howimportant musics role is in influencing emotions and how muchemphasis Xunzi and Chinese thought in general place on emotion.Such emphasis differs considerably from Platos highly rationalnotion of music. For Xunzi, music affects our inner states and altersour character:

    When music affects our mind, it causes us not only to move in acertain way but to feel that way as well. The Ancient Kings under-stood this and placed their highest priority on music. . . . Music

    creates harmony in a community, state, or nation because it affects allmen the same way, since they share the same nature and have thesame emotions 53

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    The combination of music and rituals creates in the person innerharmony and outward modesty. He becomesreverential as his innerand outer self is transformed. The cultivation of his inner power (de)

    shines in his face, and is seen in his actions and speech. When peoplesee this inner harmony and outward modesty in an individual, theyare affected directly, so much so that they accept and obey him. Thisis why all the sages made the cultivation of music their first task infounding a dynasty.54

    While Platos teaching of music is used as a tool to promote mansrational thinking and elevate his soul, Xunzis interest in music is of apolitical nature, in that music elevates the few to the highest sociallevel and position of power. Those who underwent this transforma-tion were the sage kings. Musical tones, having their origins in the

    human mind, ultimately connect humans and the cosmos.55 As thekings regulated music in the state, they transformed men andrepressed their evil sentiments, to the extent that Xunzi believedmans nature to be evil. Since human nature is evil, we must elevatethe sages and esteem ritual and rightness.56 If musics message isgood, then the response to it and the influence by it will also be good.Thus, musics message (content) was crucial in the formation ofhuman character. Plato dismisses content for the same reasons thatXunzi adopts themhe accepts theform or formal elements on which

    the structure of music depends but not its emotional influence. As aresult, Plato dismisses the Lydian and Frygian music because of itsemotional effect, and welcomed the Dorian music with its simplicityand seriousness.57

    Finally, another example of the difference between Xunzi and Platois illustrated by this remark of the former:Music creates harmony ina community, state, or nation because it affects all men the same way,since they share the same nature and have the same emotions.58 Bythe same nature, Xunzi means the evil nature of man. Only theancient kings are not included in this category. By regulating music,

    the ancient kings believed that mans evil sentiments would berepressed, and if they were not, anarchy would prevail in society. Platodoes not at all share Xunzis belief in mans evil nature. Man is notevil, and the realization of his potential depends on the environmentin which he lives, his education and his strivings in life. Mans freedomto grow is entirely dependent on him only; his future is not predeter-mined. For Xunzi, the well-being of mans life and future depended onthe ancient kings who created the institutionsmusic and ritualsforthe amelioration of mans evil nature, even though the end-result of

    music is the engendering of great joy, a supreme emotion. Musiccreates, he says, a whole that produces the exhilaration of joy and theglow of mutual affection in all who experience it 59

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    To sum up, while both Plato and Xunzi were concerned with ritualsand music in human life, they differed sharply in what their funda-mental function is. For Plato, it is the rational element of the soul that

    underpins the ritual and music, and brings forth the goodness andbeauty of a formal structure. It is the form structure (formal elementssuch as harmony, rhythm, and symmetry) of the rituals and music thatappeals to the rational part of the soul. On the other hand, for Xunziit is the content(message) in music and ritual that appeals to man; itaffects, induces, and elevates his emotions.

    BARRY UNIVERSITYMiami, Florida

    Endnotes

    1. William Theodore De Barry, Irene Bloom, and Joseph Adler, eds., Sources of ChineseTradition, 2nd ed., vol. I (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 159.

    2. Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Roberts, eds.,Ancient GreeceA Political, Social, and Cultural History(New York: Oxford Univer-sity Press, 1999), 32.

    3. Laws, 616b. All translations of Platos words are from Edith Hamilton and Hunting-ton Cairns , The Collected Dialogues of Plato (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UniversityPress, 1973).

    4. Philebus, 51cd.5. Clive Bell, Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, ed. George Dicke, Richard Sclafani, and

    Ronald Roblin (New York: St. Martins Press, 1989).6. Laws, 759b.7. Ibid., 790e791a.8. Ibid., 815c.9. Ibid., 816.

    10. Ibid.11. Ibid., 814d.12. Laws, 816.13. Ibid.14. Ibid., 814e815b.15. Ibid., 655d.

    16. Ibid., 672.17. Ibid., 795.18. See Francis Sparsott, Why Philosophy Neglects the Dance, in Aesthetics: A Critical

    Anthology, ed. George Dicke, Richard Sclafani, and Ronald Roblin (New York: St.Martins Press, 1989).

    19. Laws, 659d.20. Republic, 401de.21. Laws, 654b.22. Ibid., 670.23. Rep., 522ae.24. Ibid., 401d402a.25. Ibid., 400d.26. Ibid., 658e659ac.

    27. Ibid., 668b.28. Ibid., 655de.29 Ibid 654d

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    30. John Knoblock, ed.,Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works (Stanford,CA: Stanford University Press, 1999), 54.

    31. Ibid.32. Ibid., p. 175.

    33. Ibid., p. 49.34. Ibid., p. 58.35. Ibid., p. 56.36. The drinks and foods offered during sacrifices.37. According to Xunzi, one understands the Way (dao) through the mind. There are

    subtle and fearful minds. The enlightened person can know and distinguish the dif-ference. This person is skilled in the way, and will consider things together. See DeBary and Bloom, Sources, 179.

    38. Knoblock, Xunzi, 60.39. Ibid., p. 57.40. Ibid., p. 26.41. De Bary and Bloom, Sources, 165.42. Ibid., p. 57.

    43. Ibid., p. 61.44. Ibid.45. Ibid., p. 166.46. Ibid.47. Knoblock, Xunzi, 54.48. Ibid., p. 75.49. Ibid., p. 80.50. Ibid., p. 75.51. Ibid., p. 74.52. Laws, 657.53. Knoblock, Xunzi, 79.54. Ibid., p. 78.55. Ibid., p. 76.56. De Bary and Bloom, Sources, 182.57. Laches, 188d.58. Knoblock, Xunzi, 79.59. Ibid.

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