Virtually the entire concern with respect to music by Plato had to do with the impact of what he called “good music” vs entertainment music on both the player and the listener. In his mind the questions raised had been discussed and already resolved from a period 10,000 years before his time. The whole question was for him one of ethics, on both the personal and national level. He seems astonished when, in Gorgias,1501b and following he observes, “A man may delight a whole assembly, and yet have no regard for their highest interests.”
When you listen to popular music do you ever think about the ethics of the performer?
