Philosophy of Improvisation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Theory and Practice

This volume brings together philosophical and interdisciplinary perspectives on improvisation. The contributions connect the theoretical dimensions of improvisation with different viewpoints on its practice in the arts and the classroom.

The chapters address the phenomenon of improvisation in two related ways. On the one hand, they attend to the lived practices of improvisation both within and without the arts in order to explain the phenomenon. They also extend the scope of improvisational practices to include the role of improvisation in habit and in planned action, at both individual and collective levels. Drawing on recent work done in the philosophy of mind, they address questions such as whether improvisation is a single unified phenomenon or whether it entails different senses that can be discerned theoretically and practically. Finally, they ask after the special kind of improvisational expertise which characterizes musicians, dancers, and other practitioners, an expertise marked by the artist’s ability to participate competently in complex situations while deliberately relinquishing control.

Philosophy of Improvisation will appeal to anyone with a strong interest in improvisation, to researchers working in philosophy, aesthetics, and pedagogy as well as practitioners involved in different kinds of music, dance, and theater performances.

Susanne Ravn is Professor at the Department of Sports Science and Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark. Her research focuses on movement practices in sport, dance and health and the interdisciplinary challenge of combining phenomenology and qualitative research methodologies. Her latest publications include ‘Investigating dance improvisation – from spontaneity to agency’, Dance Research Journal (2020)

Simon Høffding is Associate Professor at the Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics at the University of Southern Denmark and affiliated researcher at the RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo.

James McGuirk is Professor of Philosophy and former Director of the Centre for Practical Knowledge at Nord University, Norway. His research focuses on themes in phenomenology, practical knowledge, and the interface between philosophy and professions research. He is the author of Eros, Otherness, Tyranny: The Indictment and Defence of the Philosophical Life in Plato, Nietzsche, and Lévinas (2017).