Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
1-2008
Abstract
Aaron Ridley has recently attacked the study of musical ontology—an apparently fertile area in the philosophy of music. I argue here that Ridley’s arguments are unsound. There are genuinely puzzling ontological questions about music, many of which are closely related to questions of musical value. While it is true that musical ontology must be descriptive of pre-existing musical practices and that some debates, such as that over the creatability of musical works, have little consequence for questions of musical value, none of this implies that these debates themselves are without value.
Identifier
10.1093/aesthj/aym040
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Repository Citation
Kania, A. (2008). Piece for the end of time: In defence of musical ontology. British Journal of Aesthetics, 48(1), 65-79. doi:10.1093/aesthj/aym040
Publication Information
British Journal of Aesthetics