1 Name Anthony Manganiello
Professor Schmidt
3/20/2016
Phil 195 Philosophy and Music Exam answer the following short answer questions:
1. How did the views of music change from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance/
Enlightenment?
Music in the Middle ages continued on the idea from agent Greeks that there were two separate ideas or views of music, First type of music was the music seen as proper, the proper music was seen almost as a branch of knowledge, including the math and ratio behind a musical number, in this instance music was considered as an aid to spiritual experiences and was seen as a holy endeavor on its own. The second type of Music was the improper form of music, which is used as temptation, which seemed to coerce the body to move rather than exercising and expanding one’s mind. This kind of music almost had a demonic takeover kind of characteristic to it, this music takes one’s mind away from reason and toward instinctual behaviors. During the renaissance arguments would be made for both of these views of music, one can see how arguments can be made for which form of music is more natural. The mathematical relationship intertwined in a piece of shows how music in this form is almost connected to some kind of universal truth. Whereas music as a mover of a body, can be seen as natural because it seems to trigger some kind of evolutionary switch inside of a person. The Renaissance brought ancient philosophy and thought into everyday discourse, this new philosophical outlook along with increases in musical technology, allowed music as a field of study to grow rapidly. The new musical instruments required better and more exact performances, which in turn made people dive deeper into musical theory and other musical related studies. Along with this new scientific and mathematical approach and study to music came another theory of music, which was music as a language of the soul and heart. This idea of music was more in tune to the music as a mover of the body. Music some argued had the ability to affect your emotions. So musical thought throughout these times had continued along the original two views of music, somehow music has ties to universal truths and that the math attached to the music allows for work to be appreciated or not. While the other view was music has how it affected ones emotions and bodies and how exactly the music affected ones emotional state of being, whether it struck your heartstrings or not. So while the views did change throughout this time it seemed that there was still a mathematical view and a more of a music as an emotional and bodily affliction view.
2. Give two arguments Hanslick and two arguments Gurney gave against music as expressive.
Hanslick argued that the purpose of music was not at all to arouse feelings and that those feelings were not content of the music itself. He believed and argued that the art of music was found solely in the instrumentals, and while music can have expressive features, those expressive features have nothing to do with the art or beauty of the music of itself. Hanslick claimed that expressive terms with music should not be seen as literal but rather figurative, music can not portray these characteristics music is just music, there are no judgements in a piece of music, it is just music, so music can not represent any specific feelings it is just music. Simply the music does not make statements however we just do what we do a lot and attach a feeling to it. Hanslicks second argument that I believe supports hanslick against expressive music is that the same music can express different feelings in depending on the context the music is in. For example when you listen to a piece of music on the radio you will attach different feelings to it then when you listen to that same piece of music as the background of a tv show or movie. For example the song this must be the place by the talking heads, gives you different feelings listening to it by itself, then when it is attached the movie wall street and you hear it during the film. Gurney Aruged that someone in one state of mind could write a piece of music that does not correlate to the state of mind he/she was in and could even write the complete opposite. Someone who is depressed could still write a song that may allow people to feel joyful for example. Also gurney would argue that people differ over the expressive content of the same works of music meaning that I may find a piece of music joyful, and you may find it arrogant so there is no consistency and because of this expressivism cant be the core of what music is.
3. Offer one argument for and one argument against the Functional account of a work of music as art.
Functional account of music will state that things are produced for a certain end or result in mind, so the intention of the musician plays an important role in defining work. Goodwork under a functional view successfully reaches the result while bad art or music does not fufil its finally goal or result. One argument against functionalism is that, say two pieces of music were meant to and did properly serve the same function however, we still prefer one over there other even though they both serve the same function. For example while family guy and the simpsons are both cartoons that are meant to make me laugh, and both do indeed make me laugh I prefer family guy over the simpsons. An argument for functionalism is again the fact that it can help account for good and bad art. Like I said Good art could be seen as one that matches the intended result while bad art misses the mark and does not fufill the result.
4. Give three arguments, according to Sharpe, why a work of music cannot be reduced to a performance or set of performances.
Sharpe would argue that you can not reduce I piece of work down to a single a performance. First of all he argued that a work can exist unperformed for example a piece written on paper never performed. People with appropriate skill sets could view that piece of paper and understand the complexity and whether it is beautiful or not and do not need a performance to judge that work. Another argument Sharpe had was that we can describe the work and the performance In different ways. This also makes sense because I’ve heard many songs butchered at karoke night. That butchered performance does not make the work a bad work, so performances may not accurately represent the work. Lastly Sharpe argued that if recordings counted as musical works, those recordings are played they are not performances instead they are copies. This means that you can not reduce it down because it is only a copy.
5. Give two problems with the Arousalist view of the meaning of music.
Two Problems that arise with the arouslist view include first, that music that is expressive in one way, can not be felt or mirrored by the listener. For example a piece of music that is explosive, how can one express explosiveness or explode. Or a piece of music that is traic cant make me a tradegy, and because of this matching problem hurts the arousalist view of musical meaning. Another problem with arousalist view is that music can be expressive and completely fail to move us. For example when I hear a song by the rapper Fetty Wap, it is up-beat and I can dance to it however, it failed to move me. Music like this just kind of fills the airwaves around us.
6. What is one way that expressive descriptions used on music be metaphoric in nature? Why does Sharpe think this unlikely?
Expressive Descriptions can be metaphors because they need not be true or false, instead metaphors either help or don’t help or provide insight or provide no insight. Sharpe however disagrees that expressive descriptions can be metaphors because when we say a piece of work is happy, we don’t mean it is only “like” happiness we mean this music is happy. So the problem is that we expressive desciptions are too literal to be a metaphor
7. How, according to Sharpe, are our expressive descriptions of music an important, but small, step in musical interpretation.
Sharpe Argues that Music’s expressive descriptions can help us interpret and understand music by the way the piece literally moves us, through art forms like dance. The expressive vocabulary that we use in our descriptions of music, but it is only a small first step because these expressive descriptions only give us a small incite into the piece of work as a whole. But until we dive into and break up the music looking for deeper meaning to the music other then the superficial feelings brought about from a single performance.
8. Give two reasons why the ideal qualified observer theory approach is problematic for finding value in music.
The Ideal qualified observer theory approach brings a few problems when assigning value to music. One problem is that the ideal observer must know all relevant facts. However some relevant facts may be impossible to no and also rely on a functional view for example composer intention would be a relevant fact, The piece of work may have been written long ago so that the composers true intention may not be possible to understand. Another problem is that intense emotions can lead u to poor judgements, so if the ideal observer must experience these expressive features this can open the observer up to bias. And why must the observer feel expressive features if it can recognize it.
9. What do we lose if we give up realism for musical value?
The problem for realists is that people who are qualified can have differences in oppionions on a work of art but,If we give up realism what is the positive argument for non-realism. A Claim about the process of the work is not actually a claim about the process or being of the work, so we in turn almost develop a infinite regression where we can never have a true or positive claim on that piece of work, so there is basically never a judgement.
10. What is special pleading and how does it work for particularism in the value of music?
Special Pleading is a bias that seemingly affects everybody it is when we ignore the aspects that are unfavorable to their own point of view. So if a person loves a piece of music they will ignore any problems with that music that may fundamentally make it a lessor piece of music and however instead focus on the points that enchances their point of view. Special Pleading works for particularism in the value of music because it allows us to see how society constructs and shapes its likes and dislikes and what it will begin to appreciate it special pleading concept gives us help to value music by being able to take those certain biases in mind