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person1970s-present

Jerrold Levinson

Disciplines:
aesthetics
philosophy of art
philosophy of music

Summary

American philosopher of art who developed historically sensitive theories of musical ontology and aesthetic value, arguing that music is constitutively historical.

Core Contribution

Musical works are not abstract structures but indicated sound structures — defined by the specific instruments indicated by the composer in a specific historical context. Aesthetic value is not purely formal but tied to a work's art-historical situation.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Argued that a musical work is not a type or a set of performances but a norm for performance indicated by a historically situated composer — making the same sound sequence performed without that historical context a different work.
  • Defends aesthetic empiricism: aesthetic properties are properties of works that require perceptual engagement to detect, not merely conceptual properties.

Notable Works & Achievements

Music, Art, and Metaphysics

The Pleasures of Aesthetics

Contemplating Art

Historical Influences

Nelson Goodman Monroe Beardsley Arthur Danto

Intellectual Lineage

Analytic Aesthetics Philosophy of Music

Contemporaries & Peers

Peter Kivy Arthur Danto Kendall Walton

Minds Influenced

Peter Kivy Julian Dodd

Intellectual Posterity

Historical Ontology of MusicIndicated Structure Theory

Discussing

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