Plato's reflection on the relationship between soul and body has attracted scholars' attention since antiquity. Less noted, but worthy of consideration, is Plato's thought on music and its effects on human beings. This book adopts an innovative approach towards analysing the soul-body problem by uncovering and emphasising the philosophical value of Plato's treatment of the phenomenon of music. By investigating in detail how Plato conceives of the musical experience and its influence on intelligence, passions and perceptions, it illuminates the intersection of cognitive and emotional functions in Plato's philosophy of mind. francesco pelosi obtained a Ph.D. in philosophy at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. His main field of research is the relation between music and philosophy in ancient Greece.

The first book of the Hippocratic treatise On Regimen includes two interesting references to music. Somewhat obscurely, musical notions are evoked in the explanation of embryological processes (1.8) and in a comparison between technai and human nature (1.18). The paper analyses both the passages, mainly focusing on the interplay between philosophical and musical notions. It is argued that the musical analogies drawn in these passages are permeated by some of the philosophical concepts widely exploited in Book 1, in Heraclitean fashion. In particular, it is claimed that in Vict. 1.8 harmonia conveys the notion of ‘organised structure’, rather than numerical concepts, and that Vict. 1.18 hinges on harmonia as composition of unlike elements, which lies at the basis of cookery and the possibility for the tongue to appreciate its creations.

The oration preserved in Papyrus Hibeh I 13 consists in a harsh attack on some self-appointed

The relationship between body and mind is one of the traditional problems met by those who specialize in Plato's work. But recently scholars such as Sabina Lovibond have shown a fresh interest for a Platonic philosophy of mind freed from the dualistic view which used to predominate. It is from this perspective, which is profitable for modern cognitive research, that Francesco Pelosi's book (a revised version of a Ph.D. thesis in philosophy) should be read. The author's method is particularly interesting because it tries to interpret Plato's philosophy of mind and his reflection on the relationship between soul and body in the light of his thought on music. One must be aware of the numerous musical metaphors that exist in Plato's dialogues such as that of the 'prelude and the song' that Socrates uses in Rep. 7. This metaphorical choice, made in order to define the difference between the scientific disciplines (μαθήματα) and dialectic, is striking. Also striking is Socrates' warning in the Phaedo, 'practise and compose music', which one should understand first of all as an indication of the double meaning of 'music', which has not only a common sense but also a philosophical and deeper sense, so that dealing with music means dealing with philosophy as well. If scholars such as Evanghelos Moutsopoulos have carefully studied Plato's theory of music, Pelosi's originality consists in considering music as providing, so to speak, 'laboratory conditions' for the study of the body and mind relationship in Plato's work. Pelosi's knowledge in the field of ancient music, which owes much to Andrew Barker's work, permits him to reconsider the psychological and epistemological relation between body and mind not only through Plato's later dialogues (Timaeus and Laws) but in the Phaedo as well.

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