This is an overview of analytic philosophy of music. It is in five sections, as follows: 1. What Is Music? 2. Musical Ontology 3. Music and the Emotions 4. Understanding Music 5. Music and Value.

Analytic Perspectives in the Philosophy of Music The philosophy of music attempts to answer questions concerning the nature and value of musical practices. Contemporary analytic philosophy has tackled these issues in its characteristically piecemeal approach, and has revived interest in questions about the ontological nature of musical works, the experience of musical expressiveness, the value … Continue reading Philosophy of Music: Analytic Perspectives →.

This surveys the philosophies of music of the most important thinkers in Islam between the 9th and the 15th centuries A.D. It covers topics ranging from the ...

Philosophy of music has flourished in the last thirty years, with great advances made in the understanding of the nature of music and its aesthetics. Peter Kivy has been at the center of this flourishing, and now offers his personal introduction to philosophy of music, a clear and lively explanation of how he sees the most important and interesting philosophical issues relating to music. Anyone interested in music will find this a stimulating introduction (...) to some fascinating questions and ideas. (shrink)

Ranging from Antiquity to contemporary analytic philosophy, this book provides a concise but thorough analysis of the arguments developed by some of the most outstanding philosophers of all times. Besides the aesthetics of music proper, the volume touches upon metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of language, psychology, anthropology, and scientific developments that have influenced the philosophical explanations of music. Starting from the very origins of philosophy in Western thought (Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle) the book talks about what (...) class='Hi'>music is according to Augustine, Descartes, Leibniz, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, the Romantics, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Susanne Langer, Bloch, Adorno, and many others. Recent developments within the analytic tradition are illustrated with particular attention to the ontology of the musical artwork and to the problem of music and emotions. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps, and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may (...) freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

This lively and lucid introduction to the philosophy of music concentrates on the issues that illuminate musical listening and practice. It examines the conceptual debates relevant to the understanding and performing of music and grounds the philosophy to practical matters throughout. Ideal for a beginning readership with little philosophical background, the author provides an overview of the central debates enlivened by a real sense of enthusiasm for the subject and why it matters. The book begins by (...) filling in the historical background and offers readers a succinct summary of philosophical thinking on music from the Ancient Greeks to Eduard Hanslick and Edmund Gurney. Chapter 2 explores two central questions: what is it that makes music, or, to be precise, some pieces of music, works of art? And, what is the work of music per se? Is it just what we hear, the performance, or is it something over and above that, something we invent or discover? Chapter 3 discusses a problem pecullar to music and one at the heart of philosophical discussion of it, can music have a meaning? And if so, what can it be? Chapter 4 considers whether music can have value. Are there features about music that make it good, features which can be specified in criteria? Is a work good if and only if it meets with the approval of an ideally qualified listener? How do we explain differences of opinion? Indeed, why do we need to make judgements of the relative value of pieces of music at all? This engaging and stimulating book will be of interest to students of aesthetics, musical practitioners and the general reader looking for a non-technical treatment of the subject. (shrink)

This lively and lucid introduction to the philosophy of music concentrates on the issues that illuminate musical listening and practice. It examines the conceptual debates relevant to the understanding and performing of music and grounds the philosophy to practical matters throughout. Ideal for a beginning readership with little philosophical background, the author provides an overview of the central debates enlivened by a real sense of enthusiasm for the subject and why it matters. The book begins by (...) filling in the historical background and offers readers a succinct summary of philosophical thinking on music from the Ancient Greeks to Eduard Hanslick and Edmund Gurney. Chapter 2 explores two central questions: what is it that makes music, or, to be precise, some pieces of music, works of art? And, what is the work of music per se? Is it just what we hear, the performance, or is it something over and above that, something we invent or discover? Chapter 3 discusses a problem pecullar to music and one at the heart of philosophical discussion of it, can music have a meaning? And if so, what can it be? Chapter 4 considers whether music can have value. Are there features about music that make it good, features which can be specified in criteria? Is a work good if and only if it meets with the approval of an ideally qualified listener? How do we explain differences of opinion? Indeed, why do we need to make judgements of the relative value of pieces of music at all? This engaging and stimulating book will be of interest to students of aesthetics, musical practitioners and the general reader looking for a non-technical treatment of the subject. (shrink)

New and distinctive approaches to five central topics in musical aesthetics are provided in this outstanding book. The topics are: understanding, representation, expression, performance and profundity.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book presents a comprehensive, accessible survey of Western philosophy of music from Pythagoras to the present. Its narrative traces themes and schools through history, in a sequence of five chapters that survey the ancient, medieval, early modern, modern and contemporary periods. Its wide-ranging coverage includes medieval Islamic thinkers, Continental and analytic thinkers, and neglected female thinkers such as Vernon Lee. All aspects of the philosophy of music are discussed, including music and the cosmos, (...) class='Hi'>music's value, music's relation to the other arts, the problem of opera, the origins of musical genius, music's emotional impact, the moral effects of music, the ontology of musical works, and the relevance of music's historical context. The volume will be valuable for students and scholars in philosophy and musicology, and all who are interested in the ways in which philosophers throughout history have thought about music. (shrink)

The article presents philosophical views on music in the context of the transformations of the worldview from Antiquity to the Modern Time. In this research author also mentions the contemporary issues, and uses her own philosophical concept of the music, which can be described as following: the value of music as a substance and the way of the valuable interaction of a person with the world affirm the essence of musical being, in which the invariable principle of (...) Harmony, the principle of Chaos-Form movement, is preserved. Music expresses the fluid essence of the world and changes of being in space and time. Philosophy of music as a field of philosophical knowledge considers music from ontological-epistemological and phenomenological-axiological prospectives, as something more than just a form of art. It explores the deep, ultimate foundations of the existence of music as such and the philosophical and aesthetic foundations of musical art. Since ancient times music has been a representation of the world in the human conscience and served as the harmonic equivalent of cosmological philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and astrophysics. The scientific view on music was enriched in the Modern Time by the expanded view on the cosmo-sound space reflected in musical art, which at the same time transforms the mathematical ideas of geometricity, squareness etc. The tendency to create integral world music in the musical practice of the XX-XXI centuries explains the attempt of mankind to present music by modern methods of composing musical art as an expression of fear towards the secret Harmony of universal existence, and, on the other hand - as a form of search for salvation and mental balance, intuitively reflecting what is happening in natural science, which more and more points to the abyss of unknowable universe, and the unstable place of man in the world. (shrink)

A good, single volume history of the philosophy of music would be nice to have, but I do not think that the book under review here is it. (Full disclosure: I am.

The article examines the situation that has developed in the contemporary age and being named differently: postmodernism, post-postmodernism, digital modernism, metamodernism, etc. It is noted that, despite the difference in naming, all the terms indicate a global crisis of culture and man. The three most important signs of this crisis are identified: degradation of a man – the predominance of his animal nature; total technicism; oblivion of national traditions, sacred things. These features are briefly explained. It is concluded that the (...) basis of these signs is the loss of human spirituality. It is stated that music has extraordinary opportunities to elevate the spiritual needs of a person. It is emphasized that these opportunities contributed to the strengthening of the impact of religious practices within various worships – shamanism, Zoroastrianism, Sufism, and others, which ensured the maintenance of the humanity of the world. It is believed that the use of spiritual-creative possibilities of music will help overcome the existing global crisis and prepare the formation of the era of culture and man, the era called a New Humanism by M. Eliade. It is argued that there are composers in Russia and in other countries today who purposefully use the spiritual-creative potential of music in their work to overcome the crisis that has arisen. We offer an interview with one of them – Russian composer Dmitry Stefanovich. In conclusion, it is noted that the following articles will continue to analyze the processes taking place in contemporary culture, and, in this regard, there will be presented stories about music and interviews with composers from Russia and other countries. (shrink)

Since the 1950s, the philosophy shared among many in the field of music education is that music education should "develop the aesthetic potential, with which every human being is endowed, to the highest possible level."1 This philosophy, presented by Charles Leonhard and Robert House in Foundations and Principles of Music Education, highlights theirs and others' philosophy of music education and the arts as a whole. Most notably, John Dewey's Art as Experience, Susan Langer's (...) Philosophy in a New Key, and William C. Hartshorn's "Integrity in Music Education" all played a key role in shaping the past and present theories of music education. Hartshorn, who seems to be the most deliberate in his... (shrink)

Representing Stephen Davies's best shorter writings, these essays outline developments within the philosophy of music over the last two decades, and summarize the state of play at the beginning of a new century. Including two new and previously unpublished pieces, they address both perennial questions and contemporary controversies, such as that over the 'authentic performance' movement, and the impact of modern technology on the presentation and reception of musical works. Rather than attempting to reduce musical works to a (...) single type, Davies recognizes a great variety of kinds, and a complementary range of possibilities for their rendition. (shrink)

This volume presents a new collection of essays on music by Jerrold Levinson, one of the most prominent philosophers of art today. The essays are wide-ranging and represent some of the most stimulating work being done within analytic aesthetics. Three of the essays are previously unpublished, and four of them focus on music in the jazz tradition.

This volume contains a selection of essays in translation by the German philosopher and man of letters Ernst Bloch, on the philosophy of music. For Bloch - often simply assimilated to the Marxist tradition, but whose thought shows a strongly individual and idealist cast - music was a primary focus on reflection. His musical knowledge and expertise were of a very high order and he was well acquainted with many of the leading composers and theorists of (...) class='Hi'>music of his time in Germany: even divorced from his philosophy his criticism remains of value and significance. Throughout, whether discussing the complex and varied relations between text and music, or questions relating to the 'expressive' as opposed to the 'descriptive' functions of music, Bloch is intent on elucidating and placing musical experience. (shrink)

[Tnis is a new translation of Adorno's Philosophie der neuen Musik. The older translation has the title 'Philosophy of Modern Music'. -NJ].

The present book is an in-depth study of Lukács’ musical aesthetics and, more specifically, of his essay on music from The Specificity of the Aesthetic (Die Eigenart des Ästhetischen, 1963). Lukács’ problematic in this essay revolves around a central issue in the history of Aesthetics: the problem of mimesis in music. Since the time of Plato and Aristotle music has been regarded as a mimesis (an imitation) of reality. However, this theory of music as mimesis presents (...) major difficulties which have long been the subject of philosophical thinking: how is it possible that an art so far removed from reality, an art that employs sounds (not images or concepts) be considered as an imitation of reality? This is the main question that concerns Lukács in this essay. The present book seeks, through the detailed examination of Lukács’ central argument, to demonstrate and clarify Lukács’ solution to this problem of musical mimesis and to highlight its significance for the contemporary debate on Aesthetics. (shrink)

The article examines the processes taking place in contemporary musical culture, and the emphasis is placed on the situation that has developed today in the musical life of Russia. It is noted that many contemporary composers in Russia are breaking with the domestic artistic traditions, focusing on the creative initiatives of composers living in the West. Among the Russian composers, the SoMa group composers are distinguished by a special intransigence to the principles of artistic creativity that tradionally developed in Russia, (...) they loudly declared: “Contemporary Russian music is us.” At the same time, it should be taken into account that Russian music is inextricably linked with the artistic traditions of Russia, which, first of all, is manifested in the reliance of the musical material on the songfulness that originates in the liturgical Orthodox singing. It is emphasized that today in Russia there are composers who maintain contact with the tradition, thereby preserving the achievements of Russian music. Among them, first of all, are the composers who are part of the MOST group. Moreover, the composers work in all cities of Russia – from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok – and increase the glory of Russia by their creativity. An interview is given with one of them – the Perm composer Nikita Shirokov. In conclusion, the author discusses the prospects for the development of the journal’s section – it is planned to publish materials and interviews related to the contemporary musical life in other countries. (shrink)

This is the first comprehensive book-length introduction to the philosophy of Western music that fully integrates consideration of popular music and hybrid musical forms, especially song. Its author, Andrew Kania, begins by asking whether Bob Dylan should even have been eligible for the Nobel Prize in Literature, given that he is a musician. This motivates a discussion of music as an artistic medium, and what philosophy has to contribute to our thinking about music. Chapters (...) 2-5 investigate the most commonly defended sources of musical value: its emotional power, its form, and specifically musical features (such as pitch, rhythm, and harmony). In chapters 6-9, Kania explores issues arising from different musical practices, particularly work-performance (with a focus on classical music), improvisation (with a focus on jazz), and recording (with a focus on rock and pop). Chapter 10 examines the intersection of music and morality. The book ends with a consideration of what, ultimately, music is. (shrink)

The article deals with the problem of the disciplinary identification of thephilosophy of music education. It explores alternative approaches to thephilosophy of music education and its relation to musical pedagogy. On thebasis of this analysis an account of the philosophy of music education as aphilosophical discipline is suggested and its specific function identified.