Music theory - Gakuron

…However, Mozi wrote “Fair” and took a negative attitude towards musical activities, on the grounds that rulers exploited the people and incurred excessive expenses when performing music and dance. In response, Xunzi refuted this in “On Music” (3rd century BC), arguing that music is a natural human desire, and that it is the role of rulers to guide it in the right direction. Confucius idealized the music established by rulers in the early Zhou Dynasty and rejected the entertainment-oriented music of his time (6th to 5th centuries BC). Xunzi responded by clarifying the concepts of ancient learning or music of the former kings and gagaku, and confronting them with the folk music (vulgar music) of the present day. …

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "rakuron" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…しかし墨子は《非楽》を著し，為政者が楽舞を行うのに，民を搾取して過剰な経費をかけるとの理由から，音楽活動には否定的態度をとった。これに対して，荀子は〈楽論〉(前3世紀)で反駁（はんばく）し，音楽は人間の自然の欲求だから，むしろこれを正しい方向に導くことが，為政者の役割だと主張した。孔子が周朝初期の為政者によって制定された音楽を理想とし，彼の時代(前6～前5世紀)の娯楽性に富んだものを排斥した言を荀子は受けて，古学あるいは先王の楽と雅楽の概念を鮮明にし，目前の民間音楽(俗楽)と対峙させた。…

※「楽論」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報