Philosophy of music

Philosophy of music is the study of "fundamental questions about the nature and value of music and our experience of it".[1] The philosophical study of music has many connections with philosophical questions in metaphysics and aesthetics. The expression was born in the 19th century and has been used especially as the name of a discipline since the 1980s.[2]

Some basic questions in the philosophy of music are:

  • What is the definition of music? (what are the necessary and sufficient conditions for classifying something as music?)
  • What is the relationship between music and mind?
  • What is the relationship between music and language?
  • What does music history reveal to us about the world?
  • What is the connection between music and emotions? (in the 19th century a debate began over whether purely instrumental music could convey emotions and depict imaginary scenes)
  • What is meaning in relation to music?

Contributions to music philosophy have been made by philosophers, music critics, musicologists, music theorists, and other scholars.

  1. ^ Andrew Kania, "The Philosophy of Music", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Spring 2014 edition, edited by Edward N. Zalta.
  2. ^ Daniel Martín Sáez, "The Expression »Philosophy of Music«. A Brief History and Some Philosophical Considerations", International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, vol. 52, nº 2 (December 2021), pp. 203-220.