Cultural images of the world as a condition for the autonomy of music. Cover Image

Elementy kulturowego obrazu świata jako warunek autonomizacji muzyki.
Cultural images of the world as a condition for the autonomy of music.

Author(s): Krzysztof Moraczewski
Subject(s): Philosophy, Music, Aesthetics
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: music; musical culture; aesthetic autonomy; image of the world; history of culture

Summary/Abstract: The general aim of the essay is to pose the question of the relationship between the elements of a socially shared, general image of the world (using Aaron Gurevich’s terminology) and the possibility of constructing the idea of autonomous music. Musical autonomy is understood here as the thesis that the order of music is independent from any other order, e.g. social, cultural etc. Hence the focus of these considerations is on cultural images of music that situate music beyond external social conditions. Several possibilities of this type are considered, such as the Pythagorean connection between music and the cosmic order, the Iranian concept of Aša, and the ancient Chinese connection between music and the cosmo-political order. Shamanism is considered as a possible archaic source for this kind of mental operation. These considerations do not aim at any kind of archaistic reduction, but rather at describing the cultural-historical conditions that made the very idea of autonomous music possible.

  • Issue Year: 2019
  • Issue No: 66
  • Page Range: 127-163
  • Page Count: 37
  • Language: Polish