Monday, July 10, 2006
When Did We All Become Philosophers?
Steve Layton writes: You want a forum topic, you got a forum topic...
That's easy, the 19th century. So maybe the real question to ask is "WHY Did
We All Become Philosophers?" Or maybe more relevant to now, "How Do We STOP
Having to Be Philosophers?" ...Yes, you. Deny all you like but face it,
we're still in a culture that expects us to always have some deeper idea
lurking at the bottom of a piece. Metaphysical, psychological, social,
phenomenological, scientific... The cigar is never just a cigar. Practically
all the way up through Mozart the issue barely existed; there might have
been some program decorating the work like frosting on a cake, but at heart
"the piece was just a piece".
Think how rare that is now, at least in what's passed for Classical these
last few generations. Is there any way to go back to where the prime factor
is Playing rather than Thinking? Or is there even the need? I'm not actually
complaining about the situation -- though the onus to be "deep" has
generated a lot of crappy dreck from composers who were never cut out for
philosophising. I'm just interested and curious about how we got there, and
why we stay there.
posted by Jerry Bowles
5:47 PM
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