Reading 'Philosophy in a New Key' by Susanne Langer. Struck by her idea that music's role is revelatory:
Because the forms of human feeling are much more congruent with musical forms than with the forms of musical language, music can reveal the nature of feelings with a detail and truth that language cannot approach. (PNK, 235)
One of Langer's strengths is that she takes seriously the differences between music and language - many of us treat music as though it were a language in the conventional sense, and expect it to communicate in the same way. But this gags music's power to speak by narrowing its possible range of meaning. Music is often wonderfully ambiguous in what it conveys. It speaks truly, but not necessarily specifically.
What do you people think? Can music reveal how we feel?
Because the forms of human feeling are much more congruent with musical forms than with the forms of musical language, music can reveal the nature of feelings with a detail and truth that language cannot approach. (PNK, 235)
One of Langer's strengths is that she takes seriously the differences between music and language - many of us treat music as though it were a language in the conventional sense, and expect it to communicate in the same way. But this gags music's power to speak by narrowing its possible range of meaning. Music is often wonderfully ambiguous in what it conveys. It speaks truly, but not necessarily specifically.
What do you people think? Can music reveal how we feel?
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