Works of Music

Abstract

Abstract This book gives a sustained defence of the simple view of the ontological nature of works of pure, instrumental music. The simple view is the conjunction of two theses: the type/token theory and sonicism. The type/token theory claims that musical works are types whose tokens are sound-sequence-events, whilst sonicism tells us that such works are identical just in case they sound exactly alike. Even though the simple view is favoured by very few writers in the philosophy of music, this book maintains that it is the default position given our ordinary intuitions about musical works; that it can answer the sorts of objections that have led other philosophers to dismiss it; and that it is, on reflection, the most promising ontology of music on offer. Specifically, the book argues that the type/token theory offers the best explanation of the repeatability of works of music: the fact that such works admit of multiple occurrence. Furthermore, it goes on to claim that the theory's most striking consequence — namely, that musical works are eternal existents — is minimally disruptive of our intuitions concerning the nature of composition and our appreciation of works of music. In defending sonicism, the book argues both that its way of individuating works of music is prima facie correct, and that the putative counter-examples it faces can be harmlessly explained away.

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