This article aims to connect issues in the epistemology of modality with issues in the philosophy of music, exploring how modalizing takes place in the context of musical performance. On the basis of studies of jazz improvisation and of classical music, it is shown that considerations about what is sonically, musically, and agentively possible play an important role for performers in the Western tonal tradition. We give a more systematic sketch of how a modal epistemology for musical performance could be (...) constructed. We argue that it is necessary to adopt a pluralist approach toward the modal epistemology of music. (shrink)

This paper develops a dialogue on value and measurement in education that began at a special symposium at ECER in September 2015. The paper seeks to continue the dialogue by commenting on the main respondent’s contribution from Network 9. We hope to clarify how different sides of the assessment debate can be misunderstood by others. What emerges in our paper is suggestive but nonetheless points to how thinking in opposing camps can limit our understanding of assessment as a human activity. (...) Taking up key points made by the respondent to the symposium, we focus on the comparison between the requirements of design in technological problem-solving situations and those that arise when we take seriously the requirements of assessment and valuing as a human activity. This discussion sets up a wider analysis of the problem of ethics across the sciences and humanities historically. While remaining tentative, the discussion points to a particular problem related to our ability to defend practical rationality agains.. (shrink)

The ability to represent, discriminate, and perform arithmetic operations on discrete quantities (numerosities) has been documented in a variety of species of different taxonomic groups, both vertebrates and invertebrates. We do not know, however, to what extent similarity in behavioral data corresponds to basic similarity in underlying neural mechanisms. Here, we review evidence for magnitude representation, both discrete (countable) and continuous, following the sensory input path from primary sensory systems to associative pallial territories in the vertebrate brains. We also speculate (...) on possible underlying mechanisms in invertebrate brains and on the role played by modeling with artificial neural networks. This may provide a general overview on the nervous system involvement in approximating quantity in different animal species, and a general theoretical framework to future comparative studies on the neurobiology of number cognition. (shrink)

Traditionally, philosophers of perception have focused their attention nearly exclusively on vision. Recently, however, the scientific and philosophical interest in studying other sensory modalities and their interaction has grown. Auditory perception has become an important field of research (O’Callaghan 2007, Nudds & O’Callaghan 2009). In this context, listening to music is usually presented as one variety of auditory perception (O’Callaghan 2021). Nevertheless, at the moment, there is no satisfactory explanation for this classification. The aim of my thesis is to explain (...) the distinctiveness of perceiving music as music. Starting from the analysis of the distinctiveness in a general sense and in a more specific knowledge-related sense, I formulate two possible hypotheses: 1) the distinctiveness comes from the objects of perception, 2) the distinctiveness comes from the type of experience, namely from how we engage with music. I show how the first hypothesis brings us to an unsatisfactory, partial reply and how the second puts us in the right direction. I then suggest that we need to rethink the nature of perception to be able to grasp the distinctiveness of the perception of music. Following O’Shaughnessy (2000) and Crowther’s (2009) works, I introduce the distinction between listening and hearing, and I identify the solution to the case in the idea that listening is a mental action. I show how considering listening an action allows me to find a place for knowledge that emerges as a relevant factor in perceiving music as music in the analysis of cases of perceivers familiar with musical traditions and pieces. I explain how I consider the distinctiveness of the perception of music as music to come from the exercise in listening of a set of abilities which I identify with familiarity with a musical piece or tradition. I finally analyse the experience of musical professionals listening to music. (shrink)