Jerrold Levinson, John Dewey, and Theodor Adorno Defining the Role of Music
Jerrold Levinson, John Dewey, and Theodor Adorno all have differing views about the role that music should play in society or in making a good life. Levinson explains his view on the matter by trying to seek a comprehensive definition of music itself rather than what a piece of music is and how humans psychologically recognize the features of music. He then goes on to provide several possible definitions and finds faults with each one until he arrives at his conclusion. This conclusion is that music can be defined as an organization of sounds produced by humans for the purpose of providing heartening experiences to those who either listen, dance, or perform to it. The sounds are considered to be the basic components of all forms of music, except for Muzak. Levinson's conclusive definition of music shares one striking similarity with Dewey's conclusion on the same matter. Dewey explains that music is often capable of providing individuals with memorable experiences, which are characterized as containing single important qualities that distinguish them from normal everyday experiences in people's lives. Thus both Dewey and Levinson indicate that music's role in the making of a good life is that it often provides listeners with enr
Dewey emphasized about how music is capable of providing its listeners with unforgettable experiences that help to excite their emotions. While he was referring to music in general as having that capability, Adorno wished to show how both popular and classical music help to excite people's emotions through different means. Popular music focuses on exciting its listener's base emotions and keeps them apathetic towards thinking deeply, while classical music helps to excite both emotions and intellectual curiosity within its listeners. Adorno's viewpoint on the role of music differs greatly from that of the other two philosophers. His view focuses mainly upon music's impact upon a society and tries to distinguish between two different types of music, namely one that is considered to be sophisticated and classical and another that is known to be ignoble and popular. He believes that popular music possesses no redeeming qualities for a society because its only purpose is to provide its listeners with cheap and shallow entertainment and to distract them from pondering about their entrapment within capitalist society. He also states that popular music has become a commodity just like all other goods, which is to be advertised about and sold to consumers within a capitalist society. Popular music can never thus be used as a format for creating anti-capitalist sentiments
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Approximate Word count = 925
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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