Sound Research WIKINDX
Sound Research WIKINDX |
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Reid, J. S. (2024). The Meaning of Music in Hegel. Journal of Philosophical Research, 49, 129–149. Added by: alexb44 (6/23/25, 10:04 AM) Last edited by: alexb44 (6/23/25, 10:35 AM) |
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| Resource type: Journal Article DOI: 10.5840/jpr2024529217 BibTeX citation key: Reid2024 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Philosophy, Sound Creators: Reid Collection: Journal of Philosophical Research |
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| Abstract |
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"I begin by defending Heinrich Gustav Hotho’s foundational edition of the Lectures on Aesthetics (LA) contra Gethmann-Siebert and others who argue for a non-systematic view of Hegel’s aesthetics generally and music specifically. I defend Hegel against the common conceit that his comprehension of music was somehow deficient and introduce the Hegelian idea of absolute agency as performative in art and music. Reference to Kant’s transcendental aesthetics then allows us to grasp how, in Hegel, meaningful tones arise from the vibratory oscillation between selfhood’s presiding unity and its temporal self-positing. I then trace back further elements of musical architecture, such as rhythm, harmony and melody to the temporal oscillation arising from within selfhood. The fundamental ambiguity within temporal oscillation is the source of meaningfulness in music, the feeling that its experience is meaningful without telling us exactly what that meaning is. Meaningfulness forms the absolute Ur-Ton of beautiful music, which arises as determinate tones within selfhood and resonates into the soul of the listener. The temporal vanishing of musical tones within a compositional framework is a pre-linguistic expression of meaning, performative of the ambiguous oscillation between the human and the divine."
Added by: alexb44 Last edited by: alexb44 |
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Explores Hegel's philosophy of music, focusing on how meaningfulness arises from the relationship between selfhood, time, and sound.
Added by: alexb44 Last edited by: alexb44 |
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p.14
"The self is in time, and time is the being of the subject 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. Added by: alexb44Keywords: Philosophy Sound |
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p.15
"A sound (Klang) is not a noise (Schall, Rauschen) for Hegel because the latter lacks the crucial element of presiding unity that sound entails."
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. Added by: alexb44Keywords: Philosophy Sound |
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p.17
"The individual note first has a sense [Sinn, meaning] in the relation and connection to another and to the sequence of others."
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. Added by: alexb44Keywords: Philosophy Sound |