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Marco Tedeschini
in NODES 26 →
2025
The idea I would like to present here is that music is not a thing. Or rather, that it is not just a thing, as, for example, sound is. Music is a certain use of sound: it imitates it. The reason for this imitation lies in the fact that imitating sounds is, at the same time, an exercise of the vital forces that dwell within us. And it is for this reason that we imitate sounds – in order to feel and express these forces. To clarify this idea, it will be necessary to establish a close dialogue between different disciplines: on the one hand, philosophy, and on the other, above all, neuroscience and musicology. Philosophy will have the difficult task of asking the right questions to these and other disciplines, whose results and findings will allow us to identify the necessary conditions for the appearance of music in our lives and, thus, in the world. However, these conditions are not yet sufficient for this to happen. An introspective analysis of what takes place during musical listening will enable us to identify the sufficient condition for the emergence of music in our lives and, consequently, in the world.
