Abstract

In Philip Alperson’s most recently edited collection, he skillfully puts together fifteen new articles on varying aspects of the philosophy of music. For the last two-hundred years the central philosophical question concerning music has been where its meaning lies. Alperson discusses this question in his introductory essay giving a historical introduction primarily through the views of Eduard Hanslick, who denies that the arousal of emotion in the listener or the expression of emotion in the music is the purpose of music. If not in emotion, what is the meaning of music? Alperson notes that there has been a concerted effort by twentieth century aestheticians and theoreticians of music to place both music and musical practice in the broader context of human experiences and practices more generally. The essays that follow explain how music does this in several different ways.