Music and Conceptualization (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy) - Hardcover

DeBellis, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521403316 ISBN 13: 9780521403313

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1995

Synopsis

This book is a philosophical study of the relations between hearing and thinking about music. The central problem it addresses is: how is it possible to talk about what a listener perceives in terms that the listener does not recognize? By applying the concepts and techniques of analytic philosophy, the author explores the ways in which musical hearing may be described as nonconceptual, and how such mental representation contrasts with conceptual thought.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This book is a philosophical study of the content of mental representations of music. The central problem it addresses is as follows: how is it possible to describe a listener's cognition using music-theoretic concepts the listener does not possess? The author explains what it is for music cognition to be nonconceptual and how such mental representation contrasts with conceptual thought. The author is both a philosopher and a musicologist and uniquely combines the perspectives of both disciplines. Exploring philosophical questions of mental representation in the relatively neglected, non-verbal domain of music, this study is a major contribution to the philosophical understanding of music perception and cognitive theory.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0521403316
• ISBN 13: 9780521403313
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 176