An Introduction to Plotinus and His Views on Music

This is the third episode of my series on philosophers and their views on music. In this episode, I introduce Plotinus' main ideas and explain what role music plays in his philosophy.
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[@SeaxofFreawine]

Very good

[@ExistentialistDasein]

Thanks!

[@QED_]

This is all pretty good . . . but only as far as it goes. It only attributes the experience of Music to "emanations" . . . in general. It doesn't actually allow you to say anything very specific about different pieces of Music . . . even though we all experience there being many specific and different affects in Music. The experience of "Pavan for a Dead Princess", for example, evokes a different "emanation" than does the experience of "Exultate, Jubilate". And it is the same emanation evoked by the experience of "Memory" (from "Cats"). It turns out, however, that Plotinus has been a major influence on the Sufi tradition (in fact, Sufism is more neo-platonic than it is Islamic). And Sufism has just that comprehensive specificity about Music that is lacking in Plotinus. If you like: Sufism differentiates the specific emanations that are evoked by specific pieces of Music . . .