Sound Research WIKINDX

This syllogism, rejected as a bad syllogism by Dignāga, was put forth by a school of Brahmanical thinkers who held, for doctrinal reasons, that sound is eternal. To maintain this claim in the face of observation to the contrary, these thinkers maintained instead that what is transitory is the revelation of sound, not sound itself. According to them, in other words, sound is constantly present, but we hear it only when its presence is revealed.

Welch, R. B. and D. H. Warren, 1980, “Immediate perceptual response to intersensory discrepancy,” Psychological Bulletin, 88(3): 638–667.

Establishes the author's primary metaphysical claim, rejecting the traditional view that sounds are simply qualities or properties, similar to colors. Instead, sounds are distinct entities in their own right, and that qualities like pitch and loudness are attributes that these sound entities have.

Phenomenological argument for the author's theory. Our experience of hearing is of sounds being stationary at their source (e.g., a bell across the room), which conflicts with the scientific view that sounds are waves constantly traveling through the medium. This experiential fact suggests that the sound itself is not the traveling wave

Presents the conclusion of the "argument from vacuums." Since the audible qualities of a sound depend on the medium in which it occurs, and a vacuum lacks a medium, the author argues that a sound cannot exist in a vacuum. This supports his view that a sound is an interaction involving a medium, not just a property of a vibrating object.

Summarizes a broader conclusion of the book about the nature of perception. By examining "cross-modal illusions" (where one sense, like sight, affects another, like hearing), the author argues against the idea that our senses work in isolation. He suggests that perception has a unified or "multimodal" aspect, where what we experience cannot be broken down into separate, independent inputs from each sense.

"A third kind of perception that we want to consider is hearing. We must describe the causes that produce the properties connected with this perception. In general, let us take it that sound is the percussion of air by way of the ears upon the brain and the blood and transmitted to the soul, and that hearing is the motion caused by the percussion that begins in the head and ends in the place where the liver is situated."

Pitch and quality - The qualities of sound, such as pitch and texture, are determined by the speed and regularity of these percussions:

"And let us take it that whenever the percussion is rapid, the sound is high-pitched, and that the slower the percussion, the lower the pitch. A regular percussion produces a uniform, smooth sound, while a contrary one produces one that is rough. A forceful percussion produces a loud sound, while a contrary one produces one that is soft."

"Likewise, the same account goes for sound and hearing—these too are the gods’ gifts, given for the same purpose and intended to achieve the same result. Speech (logos) was designed for this very purpose—it plays the greatest part in its achievement. And all such composition (mousikē) as lends itself to making audible musical sound (phōnē) is given in order to express harmony, and so serves this purpose as well."

On harmony:

"And harmony, whose movements are akin to the orbits within our souls, is a gift of the Muses, if our dealings with them are guided by understanding, not for irrational pleasure, for which people nowadays seem to make use of it, but to serve as an ally in the fight to bring order to any orbit in our souls that has become unharmonized and make it concordant with itself."

Explains the source of musical sound in Hegel's philosophy. Suggests that the vibration which creates sound originates from a temporal oscillation within the self, between its unified identity and its continuous act of self-positing in time.

Consciousness is a constant flow of moments, and that flow is what we fundamentally are. We donø't just exist in time, time is the activity of our self. According to this philosophy, this constant, internal rhythm between your stable self and the flow of time is the source of musical vibration. When a musician plays an instrument, they are taking this inner, temporal vibration and making it audible in the physical world.

Distinguishes between organized sound and noise. For a sound to be considerd musical, it must originate from a unified source that can reassert its cohesiveness, whereas noise is the result of something simply shattering or breaking apart without this internal unity.

Highlights that a single musical tone is only meaningful within a larger structure. A note gains its significance not in isolation, but in relation to other notes within a melody, harmony, or rhythm.

Discusses the concept of modularity in sound synthesis. While sounds can be broken down and recreated from basic components, like sine waves, there is no single, indivisible "atom" of sound in the way that chemical elements are fundamental to matter.

Reflects on the surprising relevance of ancient philosophical ideas to contemporary science. Suggests that early philosophers had an intuitive grasp of the fundamental principles of the physical world, which modern scientific tools are now confirming.

From the Buddhist Śūraṅgama Sūtra, used to explain the concept of mingxin (明心) (clearing the heart-mind). It posits that music is a direct expression of the musician's inner, ethical self. Therefore, the act of playing the guqin is not merely a technical exercise but a transmission of the performer's moral and spiritual state:

"Since the heart-mind of the guqin player and the music she plays are one, the heart-mind needs to be clear (mingxin 明心) before the music is played"

"One such phrase is dayin xisheng (大音希声), which literally translates as "Big Music, Small Sound": the quieter and more unassuming (“small sound”), the more profound the music (“big music”). By extension, the most profound music, is silence."

Daoist concept illustrates that the most profound music is often the quietest and most unassuming. Explains that this idea extends to the point where silence itself can be the most profound music, a state achieved when the performer allows natural sounds to emerge or creates a "void" in the music, which the audience then fills mentally.

Describes a Confucian ideal in guqin music called the "Harmonious Mean" (zhonghe 中和). These sounds are intentionally moderate – not too loud nor soft, high nor low – creating a sense of balance and peace for both the performer and the listener.

"Philosophically, however, it is nuanced to refer to an artful avoidance of extremes, bent neither towards one end nor the other. The central guiding principle is moderation. A similar concept can be seen in Aristotle’s theory of the Golden Mean"

"The fish trap exists because of the fish; once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap... Words exist because of meaning; once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.""

Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi is used to illustrate the classical Chinese suspicion of language as a perfect tool for expressing truth. In this tradition, music and other arts are seen as a more direct means of accessing and expressing philosophical truths, making the 'trap' of words unnecessary.

Needham, Joseph. 1965. Science and Civilisation in China Physics and Physical Technology Vol.4: Physics and Physical Technology. Part II: Mechanical Engineering. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jullien, François. 2018b. Cong Cunyou dao Shenghuo: Ouzhou Sixiang yu Zhongguo Sixiang de Juli. (De l’être au vivre : lexique euro-chinois de la pensée). Translated by Zhuo Li. Shanghai: Dongfang Chuban Zhongxin.

"Try tuning musical instruments such as the chhin [qin] or the se. The kung [gong] note or the shang note struck upon one lute will be answered by the kung or the shang notes from other stringed instruments. They sound by themselves. This is nothing miraculous, but the Five Notes being in relation: they are what they are according to the Numbers (whereby the world is constructed)" (Needham 1965, 130).

Thus: "It means for Needham that the seemingly mysterious phenomenon of resonance fits well into ancient Chinese organic worldview" (p.13).

The formation of sound is due to the friction (lit. mutual grinding) between (two) material things, or (two) chhi [qi] (or between material things and chhi [qi]). The grinding between two chhi [qi] gives rise to noises such as echoes in a valley or the sounds of thunder. The grinding of a material thing on chhi [qi] gives sounds such as the swishing of feathered fans or flying arrows. The grinding of chhi [qi] on a material thing gives sounds such as the blowing of the reeds of a mouth-organ. These are the inherent capacities in things for response" (Needham 206).

"The void (hsü) is transformed into (magical) power (shen). (Magical) power is transformed into chhi [qi]. Chhi [qi] is transformed into material things (hsing). Material things and chhi [qi] ride on one another (hsing chhi hsiang chheng), and thus sound is formed. It is not the ear which listens to sound but sound which of itself makes its way into the ear. It is not the valley which of itself gives out echoing sound, but sound of itself fills up the entire valley"

"An ear is a small hollow (chhiao) and a valley is a large hollow. Mountains and marshes are a ‘small valley’ and Heaven and Earth are a ‘large valley.’ (Theoretically speaking, then) if one hollow gives out sound ten thousand hollows will all give out sound; if sound can be heard in one valley it should be heard in all the ten thousand valleys"

This notion of sound arises from yin-yang thinking:

"Sound leads (back again) to chhi [qi]; chhi [qi] leads (back again) to (magical) power; (magical) power leads (back again) to the void. (But)the void has in it (the potential for) power. The power has in it (the potential for) chhi [qi]. Chhi [qi] has in it (the potential for) sound. One leads (back again) to the other, which has (a potential for) the former within itself. (If this reversion and production were to be prolonged) even the tiny noise of mosquitoes and flies would be able to reach everywhere."

Although Needham does recognise the importance of resonance in Chinese thinking about sound, Wang complains that he reduces resonance to just psychology of hearing, whereas resonance is a far more fundamental part of the "Chinese correlational cosmology of qi."