午夜剧场

There is not a day when we do not listen to music. While the "hit songs everyone knows" playing on street corners have disappeared, anyone can now easily find music to their liking from all over the world on the internet. Even those who do not have a habit of listening to music will likely hear background music playing on TV, radio, in supermarkets, restaurants, or smartphone games, unless they are secluded alone in the mountains.

Music is closely tied to human life. For this reason, music has become an important theme for philosophy, which seeks to understand what it means to be human. Philosophers have spoken about music since ancient times, not only in Western philosophy beginning in ancient Greece but also in Eastern philosophy originating from Confucianism and Hinduism. Not only philosophers, but musicians and music lovers alike, likely have their own particular views on the subject.

However, precisely because it is a subject many people want to comment on, there are many discourses regarding music that are ambiguous or incorrect. Furthermore, such discourses can sometimes distort the appreciation experience itself. According to Gracyk, the purpose of this book is to prevent readers from falling into such errors by reconsidering music once again.

The themes of each chapter include: what is the difference between mere sound and music (Chapter 1), what kind of knowledge is necessary for appreciation (Chapter 2), what is emotional expression through music (Chapter 3), and how music provides mystical experiences (Chapter 4). If you are a music lover, you must have been curious about these issues at least once. Additionally, this book conducts broad-ranging considerations using diverse examples such as classical, rock, jazz, Indian classical music, and folk music from Papua New Guinea.

It should be noted that one should not blindly accept the views in this book. The purpose of this book is to examine and discuss various discourses and serve as material for better understanding music. Many "philosophy" books found on the streets give the impression of saying something deep while being completely incomprehensible. However, philosophy is an endeavor to clarify arguments through repeated discussion, rather than escaping into inscrutable "depth."

This book is an introduction to the "philosophy of music" and, at the same time, an introduction to "philosophy" using music as its subject. I would be pleased if you could experience philosophical discussion through this book.

Theodore Gracyk (Author), Toru Genka (Co-translator)

午夜剧场 Press

208 pages, 2,500 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time this magazine was published.