LISTENING TO MUSIC
SWANSEA STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY General Editor: D.Z. Phillips, Professor of Philosophy, University College of Swansea Philosophy is the struggle for clarity about the contexts of human discourse we engage in. What we need is not theoretical explanation, but clarification and elucidation of what lies before us. Recent returns to theory in many fields of philosophy, involving more and more convoluted attempts to meet inevitable counterexamples to such theories, make this need all the more urgent. This series affords an opportunity for writers who share this conviction, one as relevant to logic, epistemology and the philosophy of mind, as it is to ethics, politics, aesthetics and the philosophy of religion. Authors will be expected to engage with the thought of influential philosophers and contemporary movements, thus making the series a focal point for lively discussion. R. W. Beardsmore ETHICS SINCE 1950 David Cockburn OTHER HUMAN BEINGS John Edelman AN AUDIENCE FOR MORAL PHILOSOPHY? Martyn Evans LISTENING TO MUSIC Raimond Gaita GOOD AND EVIL: AN ABSOLUTE CONCEPTION [);Z. Phillips INTERVENTIONS IN ETHICS WmGENSTEIN AND RELIGION B.R. Tilghman WITIGENSTEIN, ETHICS AND AESTHETICS: THE VIEW FROM ETERNITY
Listening to Music Martyn Evans University College Fellow Centre for Philosophy and Health Care University College of Swansea, Wales M MACMILLAN
Martyn Evans 1990 Sof'tcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1990 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright LicenSing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1990 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Filmsetby Wearside Tradespools, Fulwell, Sunderland British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data E v a n ~ M 1956- a r t y n, Listening to music. - (Swansea studies in philosophy). 1. Music. Appreciation. Cultural aspects I. Title II. Series 780/.1'5 ISBN 978-1-349-11738-3 ISBN 978-1-349-11736-9 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-11736-9
For my mother and father, who encouraged in me a love of music and of learning
Contents Acknowledgements viii 1 A Tale of Two Listeners 1 2 Emotion 15 3 Judgement 48 4 Expression and Gesture 75 5 Perspective and Culture 100 6 Coda 136 Bibliography 155 Index 157 vii
Acknowledgements This is not a work of textual scholarship, nor an exercise in specifically Wittgensteinian philosophy, but the influence of Wittgenstein will be readily apparent in what follows. His thoughts were my springboard, and in a sense they are also my goal. Throughout the preparation of this essay I have been helped and encouraged by my family and by my friends, and to them lowe a debt of thanks. I am very grateful also to Shirley Wollen who typed the script and who made many helpful suggestions as to its format, and to my wife Janet, who patiently read the proofs. Some of the ideas I develop here have been listened to by members of the Philosophical Society at University College, Cardiff, among them Professor J. L. Evans and members of the academic staff of the Department of Philosophy; their criticisms and responses have helped me enormously. In the same manner, I have benefited greatly from discussions with Professor D. Z. Phillips of University College, Swansea. I am indebted also to Dr Robert Sharpe of St David's University College, Lampeter, both for extremely helpful and stimulating discussions, and for giving me the opportunity to air a synoptic version of the argument to the Philosophical Society at Lampeter. However, my greatest debt is to my friend and colleague, Dr Donald Evans of University College, Swansea, who first interested me in philosophy, cultivated and directed that interest, guided me in the choice of my area of study and steered me past the worst of the pitfalls that awaited me. His insight and sheer enthusiasm have made this essay possible. It is customary at this point for writers to admit that since they have received so much help, it is the errors which remain that are their own. Unfortunately in my case this happens to be true. viii