Jazz improvisation requires a set of phenomenological practices, through which musicians confront their own sonic situatedness. Drawing on writings from Paget Henry, Mike Monahan, and Storm Heter, these phenomenological practices can be characterized as creolizing, and can reveal a sense in which, as Sidney Bechet says, music gives you its own understanding of itself. Specifically, improvising musicians engage their own situatedness by slowing things down, and through repetition. Bass players can listen through other players’ hands, and audiences can hear more (...) of what's happing in jazz by understanding the ways musicians practice. (shrink)

Hegel’s theory of freedom is complex and sweeping, and while most interpreters of Hegel will readily agree that it is the centerpiece of his political philosophy, perhaps also of his social philosophy and philosophy of history, they will just as readily disagree about what exactly the theory claims. Such interpretive disagreements have fueled, in large part, the resurgence of interest in Hegelian philosophy over the last few decades.