Music, Cosmos, and the Development of Psychology in Early China

Abstract

Music plays an important role in the development of discourses on the body, and, in particular, on psychology. From the received and excavated textual record dating to the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. we gain insights into the emergence of an elaborate logos of the psyche, or "psychology," as such a psychology relates to the cosmos. The article explores two orientations on the role of music in psychology. The first and earlier orientation outlines what the author terms a "psychology of influence," which provides a rationale for the beneficial effects of good music in self-cultivation and social order. The second and later orientation outlines what the author calls a "psychology of cosmic attunement," which identifies music with the harmony of the cosmos and speaks of sages who attune themselves to it. Through a close examination of these two perspectives on music, the article delineates how a triangular relationship among music, cosmos, and psyche develops in early China, essentially forming a new paradigm within which human relationship to music and cosmic order is understood. La musique joue un rôle important dans le développement des discours sur le corps, en particulier sur la psychologie. Grâce aux textes reçus ou exhumés datant des 3e et 4e siècles avant notre ère, il est possible d'obtenir des aperçus sur l'émergence d'un logos élaboré sur la psyché, soit une "psychologie", dans la mesure où cette psychologie est en relation avec le cosmos. L'article explore deux orientations dans le rôle de la musique en psychologie. La première, plus ancienne, décrit ce que l'auteur appelle une "psychologie de l'influence", qui fournit une explication aux effets bénéfiques de la "bonne" musique sur la culture de soi et sur l'ordre social. La seconde orientation, plus récente, décrit ce que l'auteur appelle une "psychologie de l'harmonisation cosmique", qui identifie la musique avec l'harmonie du cosmos et évoque les sages qui s'accordent sur elle. En examinant de près ces deux perspectives sur la musique, l'article suggère la façon dont une relation triangulaire entre la musique, le cosmos et la psyché s'est développée dans la Chine ancienne, formant essentiellement un nouveau paradigme à l'intérieur duquel comprendre la relation de l'homme à la musique et à l'ordre cosmique.

The significance of dynamic mind-body cultivation of Li—based on archetypal mind-body mutual shaping development theory

“…For example, the higher needs of the spiritual dimension of life can be experienced through ritual and music culture, whereby to care for the self-improvement of the personality in society, and play a positive coordinating role in the relationship between humans and things and between humans and heaven (Guo, 2005). To Xunzi (313–283BC), proper music along with the rites produces a series of beneficial results: they induce desirable psychological and physiological reactions, bring about a state of environmental and social order, and go on to produce an ultimate state of psychological wellbeing—that of joy—in all humans of a given society (Brindley, 2006). In the chapter entitled History of Propriety in Records of Rites, it reads, “the rules of ceremony serve to nurture his nature.” The research on rites from Jungian perspective also shows that through initiation, every individual can reconcile the conflicting elements of his personality: He can strike a balance that makes him truly human, and truly the master of himself (Jung, 1970).…”

Regimes of Resonance: Cosmos, Empire, and Changing Technologies of CCP Rule

“…If she then muffles the original four strings and stops them vibrating, all the other strings will continue their gentle vibration for quite some time, until finally, all sound does die away. Given the many meditations and disputations on the relation of music to morality and to power that philosophers of politics and social governance in early China left in those records passed down to us (Sterckx, 2000; Brindley, 2007, 2006; Rom, 2019; Jo, 2017; Cook, 1995; Garrison 2012) the suggestion is that the “harmony” they aspired to achieve in human affairs was not (as often supposed today) straightforward unanimity; but instead a phenomenon of sympathetic resonance akin to that familiar to musicians and their audiences.…”

Toward an Empirically Responsible Ethics: Cognitive Science, Virtue Ethics, and Effortless Attention in Early Chinese Thought

“…42. See Cook (1995) and Brindley (2006) for excellent discussions of this themes. In this context, it is very telling that the utilitarian Mozi rejected Confucian music, failing to see the moral value of music because the cultivation of emotions and dispositions played no role in his extremely rationalistic ethical scheme.…”