In philosophy of music, formalists argue that pure instrumental music is unable to represent
any content without the help of lyrics, titles, or dramatic context. In particular, they deny that …

Musical formalists deny that instrumental music without words (which somebody calls
„pure‟ or „absolute‟ music) is a language, has semantic content, can tell stories or express …

Many philosophers and music theorists have claimed that music is a language, though
whether this is meant metaphorically or literally is often unclear. If the claim is meant literally …

The thesis aims to refute claims from Peter Kivy that so-called ““Absolute music,” then, as
defined, is pure instrumental music without text, title, program, dramatic setting, or any other …

Music may never be fully understood. An important reason for this is that music, since it is art,
often strives for the new, the previously unknown, the unconventional. Some musical …

Philosophy of music is the study of fundamental questions about the nature and value of
music and our experience of it. Like any “philosophy of X,” it presupposes knowledge of its …

A deep conflict has emerged between philosophers of music and music theorists because
they assume that they speak in disparate terms about different objects. A unified language …

The claim of this thesis is that both formal and expressive qualities are equally relevant to
our judgements concerning the aesthetic value of music. I limit my enquiry to the case of …

Many discussions of musical meaning are structured by a pivotal disagreement over
whether music is a representational art. Some argue that music should be understood in …

Are works of music types of performance or are they continuants? Types are unchanging
entities that could not have been otherwise; continuants can undergo change through time …