Global Philosophy of Music

Abstract

Neo-Taoists in third-century China believed that music should not be too emotive, as this resulted in an imbalance that disrupted the natural human state. This perspective is congruent with the older Taoist tenet that one should relinquish socially constructed desires in order to follow the Tao or “pathway.” The epitome of Neo-Taoist music aesthetics can be found in philosopher and guqin player Ji Kang’s thesis that Music Has in It Neither Sorrow Nor Joy. According to Ji, music itself is harmonious and qi-preserving, whereas listener emotions deplete one’s vitality or qi. Despite many scholars drawing parallels between Ji’s and Hanslick’s aesthetics, these similarities are superficial in nature and obscure a fundamental divergence. In this paper, I argue that whereas Hanslick’s theory reflects the “apolitical” positivism of mid-century Austria, Ji’s thesis of “pure” music connotes his political retreat from a corrupt court he despised. Recent research in Wilfing 2018 shows how Austrian positivism was a clinical ideology intended to be the opposite of the fiery revolutionary ideals thought to be championed by Enlightenment philosophers. Seemingly in parallel, and as part of a larger move to renounce socially constructed desires (e.g., for wealth and fame) and mores, Ji Kang turned towards a musical metaphysics of cosmic harmony that connotes his resistance against assimilation to an unjust social order. The political connotations of Ji Kang’s metaphysics suggest we pause in considering contemporary European and North American musicological discourses that are well-intentioned but are often inappropriately universalized within their own contexts, not to mention other geographies. Upon recognizing that even metaphysics can have a social dimension, we might perhaps begin to dismantle neo-Kantian ethical universality.