Thesis (M.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2009. / Adviser: Paul Dombrowski. Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-64).

This thesis aims to build up a picture of what it has meant for us within the western canon to educate a human being through the depths and heights of existence. It uses narrative accounts of educational journeys from ancient, medieval and early modern sources to develop an integral picture of the spectrum of education along with the techniques and fore-structures needed to guide a student through the various stages and encounters. Key metaphors, journeys and relationships - Diotirna's ladder of beauty, Plato's cave, Philo's Abraham and Sarah, Origen's bride and Bridegroom, Plotinus' journey of the alone to the Alone, Augustine's Confessions, the tragic love of Abelard and Heloise, Dante's encounters in the infernal, purgatorial and paradisical realms of human experience, Shakespeare's great playing within the same realm, and Descartes' doubting genius provide a rich ensemble, each resonating with the next, opening out intellectual, affective, volitional, and imaginative paths through the full terrain of human existence. This multidimensional approach points towards a flexible and insightful pedagogics that works with the enormous variety and capacity of human learning rather than heavy-handedly insisting on one path, or, even worse, not recognizing and dealing with specific areas of human living that occur in the upper and lower reaches of our educational endeavours. Phenomenological, Hermeneutic and Integral methods suggested by Heidegger and Wilber amongst others were used to inform the process of research. The results of this thesis are not contained in its reconunendations but in the effects of its reading. It is itself a tool that embodies and encourages the principles of an educational tradition that has existed within the history of western learning, not seeking a return to ancient or medieval ways but to provide a backlight that assists current initiatives working with the full range of human potential.

This thesis offers a technically informed examination of Plato's pervasive, though not innocent, use of musical theory, practice and musical concepts more generally within the ambitious ethical project outlined in many of his dialogues: fostering the ‘excellence' of the soul. Starting from Republic 3, Chapter 1 will focus specifically on music stricto sensu in order to assess Plato's interpretation of the basic ‘building blocks' of musical performances, creating a core repertoire of musical concepts that will prepare the way to analyse Plato's use of musical terms or categories in areas that, at first sight, do not appear to be immediately connected to this art, such as politics, ethics and psychology. Chapter 2 examines a selection of passages from Laws 2 concerning the concept of musical beauty and its role in ethical education, demonstrating how Plato's definition is far from being moralistic and, instead, pays close attention to the technical performative aspects of dramatic musical representations. Chapter 3 looks first at the harmonic characterisation of the two central virtues of the ideal city, sophrosyne and dikaiosyne, showing how their musical depictions are not purely metaphoric: on the contrary, Plato exploited their cultural implications to emphasise the characteristics and the functions of these virtues in the ideal constitution. The second half of Chapter 3 analyses the Platonic portrayal of musical παρανομία, studying both its educational and psychological repercussions in the dialogue and in relations to contemporary Athenian musical practices. Chapter 4 looks at how different types of music may be used to create an inner harmonic order of passions in the soul in different contexts: the musical-mimetic education outlined in the Republic, the musical enhancement of the psychological energies in the members of the Chorus of Dionysus in the Laws, and finally the role of the aulos in the Symposium.