On the Philosophical Roots of the Science of Music in the Medieval East

This article focuses on two main musical and philosophical trends that have become widespread in East-ern musical science: cosmological and classical. The study and comparative analysis of many medieval treatises on Eastern music have shown that the science of professional traditional Eastern music did not develop as a single homogeneous stream (as is sometimes mistakenly presented in modern publications), but, like other areas of scientific thought, had different directions. The features of these directions were associated with different, sometimes opposing philosophical views of the authors of the treatises on the origin of music, its purpose and place in human life. The worldviews of these scientists influenced the content of the treatises, the interpretation and method of solving musical-theoretical problems. It is im-portant to note that the mention of the names of outstanding learned musicians of the past in the text of medieval manuscripts is not always an indicator of the continuity of their teachings, nor is it proof of their authorship.