"Representation in Music" by Roger Scruton and "Sound and Semblance" by Peter Kivy
Can music represent? Does it matter if it can? Roger Scruton and Peter Kivy tackle these two questions in two articles concerning music’s representational powers: Representation in Music (Scruton) and Sound and Semblance (Kivy). Scruton takes a two-pronged approach to the question of musical representation arguing that 1) music cannot represent things and 2) even if it could, such representation is irrelevant to the appreciation of the music. Kivy attempts to rebut both these charges. In this paper I will outline both Scruton’s and Kivy’s positions and argue that Kivy is correct in thinking that music can represent and that in certain cases, such representation is crucial to understanding the music. Finally, I will offer some arguments against Scruton that are not directly addressed by Kivy.
In answering the question, "Can music represent?" Scruton outlines five conditions that "describe the aesthetic significance of representation."11 Three of these are relevant to his discussion concerning music:
1. To be a representational work, a proper understanding of the work demands that the observer gain, "some awareness" of what is being represented. While the observer might not completely understand what is represented, she must still have an "adequate" appreciation of what the work represents.
2. Following from 1), the observer must be able to distinguish the medium of representation (e.g. paint) from the subject of representation (e.g. a man). If the medium and the subject are mixed up (such that one mistakes a two-dimensional painting of a man with a painting of a two-dimensional man), then the conditions for an adequate underst...
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6 Ibid., 236
7 Ibid., 238
8 Ibid., 241
9 Ibid., 241
10 Ibid., 241
11 Ibid., 241
12 Ibid., 241
13 Ibid., 237
14 Ibid., 238
15 Roger Scruton, "Representation in Music", in Aesthetics: A Reader in the Philosophy
of the Arts. David Goldblatt, Lee B. Brown (Eds.), (Prentice Hall, New Jersey: 1997),
242
16 Ibid., 241
17 Ibid., 242
18 Ibid., 243
19 Ibid., 243
20 Ibid., 243
21 Ibid., 246
22 Ibid., 246
23 Ibid., 242
24 Ibid., 242
25 Ibid., 243
References
Peter Kivy, "Sound and Semblance", in Aesthetics: A Reader in the Philosophy of the Arts. David Goldblatt, Lee B. Brown (Eds.), (Prentice Hall, New Jersey: 1997)
Roger Scruton, "Representation in Music", in Aesthetics: A Reader in the Philosophy of the Arts. David Goldblatt, Lee B. Brown (Eds.), (Prentice Hall, New Jersey: 1997)
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Goldblatt, and Brown. Aesthetics: A Reader in Philosophy of the Arts, Upper Saddle Ridge, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997.
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