Grad Tutorial: The Philosophy of Music

Catalog description

Tutorial taught by grad student. Limited to 10 students. Elevators, weddings, breakups, ads, and lullabies; jogging, working, driving, and partying: music overflows everyday contexts and activities. And since philosophy aims "to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term," it had better have something to tell us about music. At least that's the hope and the motivation behind this course, which is a survey of (1) how the nature, value, and ramifications of music can be illuminated from a philosophical perspective and (2) how philosophical ideas can guide and enhance our experience of music itself. Can music be defined? What does it mean for a melody, chord, or song to express an emotion? Can we tell apart 'good' from 'bad' music, and is the distinction objective? Does beauty matter when it comes to songs? Is it easier for humans to read music or to improvise? And why are we compelled to listen to the same pieces again and again? When it comes to such questions, there are neither agreed-upon answers nor agreed-upon ways of answering. This is what makes such questions philosophical. As we grapple with them, we can't hope to reach the definitive conclusions of science or mathematics. Still, we can start thinking in novel ways, and reconsider what we tend to take for granted. We can even make up our minds about some provisional answers, provided that we have thought more deeply about what makes them plausible. Doing all this is bound to yield a double benefit: making us (somewhat) better thinkers and making us (somewhat) better listeners. What 'better' means in either case is itself a philosophical question.