The final section of the passage cited from Porphyry suggests that Archestratus was interested in philosophical topics including
definition,
matter and form and "the relative importance of the faculties of sense-perception and reason in musical analysis," a topic that had been debated by
Plato (
Rep. 530c–531c) and
Aristoxenus (with whom Archestratus seems to have been in broad sympathy). Archestratus' claim that his work "had substantial connections with philosophy" earned him a vicious attack in
Philodemus'
De musica, since
Diogenes of Babylon, Philodemus' chief antagonist in that work, had used Archestratus' ideas in support of his own. Philodemus' report is as follows (
De musica, Book 4 col. 137.13–27 in the
Budé edition of D. Delattre = pp. 91–92 Kemke): Archestratus may have hoped to show that specialized sciences such as harmonics were entitled to the serious attention of philosophers in general, but the schools of
Hellenistic philosophy were largely immune to this suggestion. ==References==