European musical scales are remarkably limited compared to other traditions.

Evidence

The subject of temperament inevitably involves a bit of number theory. Even if we did not have to deal with intrinsic and acquired tastes of humans, the relationships among and characteristics of real numbers and their ratios (these numbers being frequencies in the case of music) gets as deep as you probably care to go in mathematics. But the context of music actually makes it more interesting and complex still. The relationships of two different complex tones becomes a question of the relations among two different harmonic series. The result can give us pleasure or it can be annoying. Not all societies agree on which is which, and we will try to avoid being entirely Euro-centric. Indeed, the European traditions for scales and their temperament are remarkably limited compared to some other societies. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2317

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to debates about whether consonance/dissonance is biological or cultural — parallels cross-cultural critiques of Eurocentric music theory.
• QUESTION: What non-European scale systems does Heller have in mind? Could be worth chasing - just intonation in Indian ragas, maqam, gamelan slendro/pelog.