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Philosophy of Music

Philosophy of Music. Lecture 8. Paradoxes of the unsayable. ‘It appears that the One neither is one nor is at all. And if a thing is not, you cannot say that it ‘has’ anything or that there is anything ‘of’ it. Consequently, it cannot have a name or be spoken of.’ Plato, Parmenides

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Philosophy of Music

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  1. Philosophy of Music Lecture 8

  2. Paradoxes of the unsayable • ‘It appears that the One neither is one nor is at all. And if a thing is not, you cannot say that it ‘has’ anything or that there is anything ‘of’ it. Consequently, it cannot have a name or be spoken of.’ Plato, Parmenides • “The unutterable is unutterably contained in what is uttered” (Wittgenstein)

  3. The ineffable

  4. Schubert, Adagio from the String Quintet

  5. The paradox of musical meaning • ‘… music means or refers to something other than itself, but … there is access to this “other” thing through concepts, and therefore there is no answer to the question what music means’ (Scruton)

  6. Noumenal entities • Schopenhauer • Music directly presents the Will;the Will is beyond phenomena; only phenomena are describable;therefore music is indescribable.

  7. Indescribable experiences • Croce • Successful art is utterly specific in its character;what is utterly specific is beyond adequate description; therefore successful art-music is beyond adequate description.

  8. Non-descriptive language Josef Haydn Anton Bruckner ‘Understanding a sentence is more akin to understanding a piece of music than one might think.Why must these bars be played just so? Why do I want to produce just this pattern of variation in loudness and tempo? I would like to say “Because I know what it is all about.” But what is it all about? I should not be able to say. For explanation I can only translate the musical picture into a picture in another medium and let the one picture throw light on the other.’ Wittgenstein, Philosophical Grammar ‘In Bruckner’s music nothing is left of the long, slender (Nordic?) face of … Haydn;instead, its face is completely round and full (alpine?).’ Wittgenstein, Culture and Value

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