The event will consist of a presentation lasting 45 minutes, and will be followed by 45 minutes of discussion time.

Tickets are free, with a suggested donation of £2. Donations support our international activities, and help fund bursaries for junior scholars to attend our biannual conference.

Abstract:

What critical force does music possess today? With the collapse and attacks on tradition, music and sound are no longer separable forces, nor does music as a cultural form, despite its seeming ineffability, escape the worst excesses of commodification. Music is frequently used to pacify populations, to deliver messages regarding how love and life should be understood, or simply plays the role of aural wallpaper. Yet sound and music are also the source of social conflict in the form of 'noise', and the subject of legal complaint. Cities have been quietened in some respects during lockdown - less movement, enforced domesticity, restrictions on sociability - but music as an 'invisible friend' as been a comfort to many. Music can make us feel less 'alone' as we carry on, and in that sense it has a real and material emotional and conceptual force. But how can we understand music as a conceptual force in its own right? What philosophical - that is to say thoughtful - meaning does music today have? This paper will suggest that we can think of music (in relation to sound and noise) as Philosophy. It will examine the role of music within Philosophy before making the case for music as a mode of philosophising in its own right - a mode of expression that is far more powerful in its own right than we often give it credit for. Music's ubiquity does not ultimately undermine its force.

Biography:

We thank the Margaret Beaufort Institute, Cambridge, for the use of their Zoom account to host this series.

If you have any questions, please email Hannah at hannahcapstickmusic@gmail.com or Matthew at m.pritchard1@leeds.ac.uk.