Compapp Assignment
Compapp Assignment
Explications of the concept of music usually begin with the idea that music is
organized sound. They go on to note that this characterization is too broad, since
there are many examples of organized sound that are not music, such as human
speech, and the sounds animals and machines make. There are two further kinds of
necessary conditions philosophers have added in attempts to fine tune the initial idea.
One is an appeal to tonality or essentially musical features such as pitch and rhythm
(Scruton, 1997: 1-79; Hamilton, 2007: 40-65; Kania, 2011a). Another is an appeal to
aesthetic properties or experience (Levinson, 1990a; Scruton 1997: 1-96; Hamilton, 2007:
40-65). As these references suggest, one can endorse either of these conditions in
isolation, or both together. It should also be noted that only Jerrold Levinson and
Andrew Kania attempt to define in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions. Both
Roger Scruton and Andy Hamilton reject the possibility of a definition in terms of