PhD Thesis by Dr Tom Hewitt
This dissertation-assemblage is a rhizo-text of a rhizo-enquiry. It is part musico- ethnography a... more This dissertation-assemblage is a rhizo-text of a rhizo-enquiry. It is part musico- ethnography and part philosophical analysis. It looks at the work(ing practices) of four contemporary musickers. It situates a rhizo-analysis of their work, as described in four vignette studies, in discussions of, inter alia, rhizo-aesthetics, cyborgs, and boundaries in Entangled Network Space. It includes a speculative consideration of what might happen to music and musicking in the future, especially in the light of current trends in the expansion of technicity in their methods of composition, production, and distribution. It draws particularly on the philosophical writings of Alfred North Whitehead, Gilles Deleuze (particularly in association with Félix Guattari), Bernard Stiegler, Bruno Latour, Manuel DeLanda, Christopher Vitale, and Ian Hodder.
Papers by Dr Tom Hewitt
What’s in a name? 'The Leitmotiv reminds me of nothing more than a tonal visiting card. As ea... more What’s in a name? 'The Leitmotiv reminds me of nothing more than a tonal visiting card. As each character comes on, he presents his thematic card and says, “Here I am”'. This remark is attributed to Claude Debussy from a reminiscence by Arthur Hartmann following his first meeting with Debussy in Paris in 1908. This essay will consider whether a leitmotif is capable of the simple indexical function which Debussy ascribes to it and, by a process of dialectical exploration, investigate the proposition that indexicality is, in fact, far from simple, having a wider meaning than linguistic ‘naming’ would imply. By considering semiotic meaning of motivic material the exegesis will go on to propose the notion of a metaphysical space, analogous to the mycological mycelium (to further develop Deleuze’s rhizomal space) in which meaning and, therefore, musical meaning and, ultimately, leitmotivic meaning is situated.
This dissertation-assemblage is a rhizo-text of a rhizo-enquiry. It is part musicoethnography and... more This dissertation-assemblage is a rhizo-text of a rhizo-enquiry. It is part musicoethnography and part philosophical analysis. It looks at the work(ing practices) of four contemporary musickers. It situates a rhizo-analysis of their work, as described in four vignette studies, in discussions of, inter alia, rhizo-aesthetics, cyborgs, and boundaries in Entangled Network Space. It includes a speculative consideration of what might happen to music and musicking in the future, especially in the light of current trends in the expansion of technicity in their methods of composition, production, and distribution. It draws particularly on the philosophical writings of Alfred North Whitehead, Gilles Deleuze (particularly in association with Felix Guattari), Bernard Stiegler, Bruno Latour, Manuel DeLanda, Christopher Vitale, and Ian Hodder.
How does music have meaning? Accounts describe musical meaning as autonomous (relating to music’... more How does music have meaning? Accounts describe musical meaning as autonomous (relating to music’s internal structures and properties) or as heteronomous (situating meaning as an interrelationship between the musical object and the world).
Chapter 1 reviews the literature relating to these accounts and argues that there are no purely autonomous musical meanings and that all descriptions of musical meaning rely on heteronomous explanations.
Chapter 2 discusses five types of explanation: Grice’s natural meaning, ‘Kantian’ transcendence, emotional accounts of meaning, semiotic explanations and, ecological descriptions which are given a place on a ‘spectrum’ of increasing heteronomy.
Chapter 3 contends that the descriptions of musical meaning outlined in Chapter 2 are given within the Anglo-American tradition of analytical philosophy whose aesthetics rely heavily on ontological classification (descriptions of what things are). The Continental philosophical tradition builds on the philosophy of Nietzsche and Heidegger, through Foucault and Derrida, in developing an epistemological account (the way things work and act). These two traditions are a contrast between, respectively, what things are and how things are. Deleuze’s ‘rhizome’ is introduced as the metaphysical space which is a bridging position between the two traditions, allowing for the necessity of ontological entities, but describing how they may interact epistemologically. It is argued that such a metaphysics is required to describe how musical objects interact in construction of heteronomous meanings. Toynbee and Latour are introduced as writers who describe Deleuzean rhizomatic spaces. Toynbee’s notion of the ‘Social Author’ and Latour’s Actor Network Theory are given diagrammatic explanations which prove useful in depicting how musical meaning can emerge in the metaphorical rhizomatic space.
Chapter 4 proposes the fungal mycelium, with its network of hyphae and fruiting bodies as a metaphor for the metaphysical space inhabited by musical meaning. The mycelium has multi-valent connections through branchings and nodal connections allowing for material to pass around it in all directions – which is required for heteronomous accounts of musical meaning.
Chapter 5 considers two musical exemplars; the first movement of Beethoven’s string quartet in A minor, Op. 132 and a piece composed on the iPad application GarageBand called Network. The results of some empirical research into listeners’ responses to these two pieces are considered from a ‘mycelial’ perspective.
It is concluded that the mycelium provides a good metaphorical description of the type of metaphysical space required to give an account of how music comes to have meaning in the world.
Book Reviews by Dr Tom Hewitt
Not really a book review, but thoughts on a book for a blog post.
Conference Presentations by Dr Tom Hewitt
Jazz Improvisation, Agency and Freedom: Between the Human and Inhuman Lies the Assemblage
This i... more Jazz Improvisation, Agency and Freedom: Between the Human and Inhuman Lies the Assemblage
This is the title for a panel session to be given at New Frontiers, the 11th Annual Joint Conference of The Society for European Philosophy and the Forum for European Philosophy at the University of Dundee between 3 and 5 September 2015
Held at the Department of Music, University of Sheffield on 27 May 2015
Paper given at Royal Musical Association, Music and Philosophy Study Group’s 2nd Workshop on The ... more Paper given at Royal Musical Association, Music and Philosophy Study Group’s 2nd Workshop on The Philosophy of Human+Computer Music at the University of Sheffield on 27 May 2015.
Here are a musician, a computer and a work of music
And they are easy to tell apart, aren’t they?
In this paper I will suggest otherwise. Taking as a starting point the Extended Mind hypothesis of Clark and Chalmers (2010) and Derrida’s discussion of the nature of an artwork’s frame in Parergon (1979) I will suggest that the boundaries between people, their tools and their artistic artefacts are far fuzzier (pace Kosko 1993) than we usually imagine.
I will draw on Derrida and the broadly “connectionist” philosophies of Deleuze, Guattari, Latour, DeLanda, Vitale and Hodder to propose a metaphysical space – Entangled Network Space (ENS) – where the interactions and connections between people and things can be explained and understood. I will borrow Derrida’s description of the parergon, i.e., that which perhaps is, or is not, part of the work and conjoin that discussion with a description of what I call the paraprosopon, i.e., that which perhaps is, or is not, part of the person. It is in this Entangled Network Space where our ever-shifting prosoponal encounters with the ergonal things in the world ultimately have meaning.
References:
• Clark. A. and D.J. Chalmers 2010 (in Menary, R. (ed.) 2010). “The Extended Mind” The Extended Mind. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. (27-42).
• Derrida, J. 1979. “The Parergon” October. 9. 3-41.
• Kosko, B. 1994. Fuzzy Thinking. London: Flamingo (Harper Collins)
This paper develops the Deleuzean concept of the rhizome by proposing the notion of the fungal my... more This paper develops the Deleuzean concept of the rhizome by proposing the notion of the fungal mycelium as a metaphorical ‘meaning-space’ in which individuals and cultures construct (and de-construct) musical meaning. Does the structure of the fungal mycelium provide a useful metaphor to explain a proposed metaphysical meaning-space for music? Why this metaphor rather than some others? Why describe music in terms of metaphysics rather than a phenomenological or epistemological account?
Babette Babich said at a recent London conference that, ‘It is the role of continental philosophy to make explanations more complex rather than less’. I will assert that explanations of musical meaning in the analytical tradition fail in virtue of the fact that they are not complex enough. I will propose that musical meaning is fundamentally indeterminate when considered diachronically. Finally, I will contend that any real-world phenomenal explanation of how we determine musical meaning must take into account this complex and indeterminate metaphysics.
I will illustrate my points by reference to two musical exemplars; the first movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 and a recent ‘piece’ by me, Network, put together with the iPad app Garageband. The relevance of the eponymous cheese-makers of the title will become clear in this context.
Reference Materials by Dr Tom Hewitt
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PhD Thesis by Dr Tom Hewitt
Papers by Dr Tom Hewitt
Chapter 1 reviews the literature relating to these accounts and argues that there are no purely autonomous musical meanings and that all descriptions of musical meaning rely on heteronomous explanations.
Chapter 2 discusses five types of explanation: Grice’s natural meaning, ‘Kantian’ transcendence, emotional accounts of meaning, semiotic explanations and, ecological descriptions which are given a place on a ‘spectrum’ of increasing heteronomy.
Chapter 3 contends that the descriptions of musical meaning outlined in Chapter 2 are given within the Anglo-American tradition of analytical philosophy whose aesthetics rely heavily on ontological classification (descriptions of what things are). The Continental philosophical tradition builds on the philosophy of Nietzsche and Heidegger, through Foucault and Derrida, in developing an epistemological account (the way things work and act). These two traditions are a contrast between, respectively, what things are and how things are. Deleuze’s ‘rhizome’ is introduced as the metaphysical space which is a bridging position between the two traditions, allowing for the necessity of ontological entities, but describing how they may interact epistemologically. It is argued that such a metaphysics is required to describe how musical objects interact in construction of heteronomous meanings. Toynbee and Latour are introduced as writers who describe Deleuzean rhizomatic spaces. Toynbee’s notion of the ‘Social Author’ and Latour’s Actor Network Theory are given diagrammatic explanations which prove useful in depicting how musical meaning can emerge in the metaphorical rhizomatic space.
Chapter 4 proposes the fungal mycelium, with its network of hyphae and fruiting bodies as a metaphor for the metaphysical space inhabited by musical meaning. The mycelium has multi-valent connections through branchings and nodal connections allowing for material to pass around it in all directions – which is required for heteronomous accounts of musical meaning.
Chapter 5 considers two musical exemplars; the first movement of Beethoven’s string quartet in A minor, Op. 132 and a piece composed on the iPad application GarageBand called Network. The results of some empirical research into listeners’ responses to these two pieces are considered from a ‘mycelial’ perspective.
It is concluded that the mycelium provides a good metaphorical description of the type of metaphysical space required to give an account of how music comes to have meaning in the world.
Book Reviews by Dr Tom Hewitt
Conference Presentations by Dr Tom Hewitt
This is the title for a panel session to be given at New Frontiers, the 11th Annual Joint Conference of The Society for European Philosophy and the Forum for European Philosophy at the University of Dundee between 3 and 5 September 2015
Here are a musician, a computer and a work of music
And they are easy to tell apart, aren’t they?
In this paper I will suggest otherwise. Taking as a starting point the Extended Mind hypothesis of Clark and Chalmers (2010) and Derrida’s discussion of the nature of an artwork’s frame in Parergon (1979) I will suggest that the boundaries between people, their tools and their artistic artefacts are far fuzzier (pace Kosko 1993) than we usually imagine.
I will draw on Derrida and the broadly “connectionist” philosophies of Deleuze, Guattari, Latour, DeLanda, Vitale and Hodder to propose a metaphysical space – Entangled Network Space (ENS) – where the interactions and connections between people and things can be explained and understood. I will borrow Derrida’s description of the parergon, i.e., that which perhaps is, or is not, part of the work and conjoin that discussion with a description of what I call the paraprosopon, i.e., that which perhaps is, or is not, part of the person. It is in this Entangled Network Space where our ever-shifting prosoponal encounters with the ergonal things in the world ultimately have meaning.
References:
• Clark. A. and D.J. Chalmers 2010 (in Menary, R. (ed.) 2010). “The Extended Mind” The Extended Mind. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. (27-42).
• Derrida, J. 1979. “The Parergon” October. 9. 3-41.
• Kosko, B. 1994. Fuzzy Thinking. London: Flamingo (Harper Collins)
Babette Babich said at a recent London conference that, ‘It is the role of continental philosophy to make explanations more complex rather than less’. I will assert that explanations of musical meaning in the analytical tradition fail in virtue of the fact that they are not complex enough. I will propose that musical meaning is fundamentally indeterminate when considered diachronically. Finally, I will contend that any real-world phenomenal explanation of how we determine musical meaning must take into account this complex and indeterminate metaphysics.
I will illustrate my points by reference to two musical exemplars; the first movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 and a recent ‘piece’ by me, Network, put together with the iPad app Garageband. The relevance of the eponymous cheese-makers of the title will become clear in this context.
Reference Materials by Dr Tom Hewitt
Chapter 1 reviews the literature relating to these accounts and argues that there are no purely autonomous musical meanings and that all descriptions of musical meaning rely on heteronomous explanations.
Chapter 2 discusses five types of explanation: Grice’s natural meaning, ‘Kantian’ transcendence, emotional accounts of meaning, semiotic explanations and, ecological descriptions which are given a place on a ‘spectrum’ of increasing heteronomy.
Chapter 3 contends that the descriptions of musical meaning outlined in Chapter 2 are given within the Anglo-American tradition of analytical philosophy whose aesthetics rely heavily on ontological classification (descriptions of what things are). The Continental philosophical tradition builds on the philosophy of Nietzsche and Heidegger, through Foucault and Derrida, in developing an epistemological account (the way things work and act). These two traditions are a contrast between, respectively, what things are and how things are. Deleuze’s ‘rhizome’ is introduced as the metaphysical space which is a bridging position between the two traditions, allowing for the necessity of ontological entities, but describing how they may interact epistemologically. It is argued that such a metaphysics is required to describe how musical objects interact in construction of heteronomous meanings. Toynbee and Latour are introduced as writers who describe Deleuzean rhizomatic spaces. Toynbee’s notion of the ‘Social Author’ and Latour’s Actor Network Theory are given diagrammatic explanations which prove useful in depicting how musical meaning can emerge in the metaphorical rhizomatic space.
Chapter 4 proposes the fungal mycelium, with its network of hyphae and fruiting bodies as a metaphor for the metaphysical space inhabited by musical meaning. The mycelium has multi-valent connections through branchings and nodal connections allowing for material to pass around it in all directions – which is required for heteronomous accounts of musical meaning.
Chapter 5 considers two musical exemplars; the first movement of Beethoven’s string quartet in A minor, Op. 132 and a piece composed on the iPad application GarageBand called Network. The results of some empirical research into listeners’ responses to these two pieces are considered from a ‘mycelial’ perspective.
It is concluded that the mycelium provides a good metaphorical description of the type of metaphysical space required to give an account of how music comes to have meaning in the world.
This is the title for a panel session to be given at New Frontiers, the 11th Annual Joint Conference of The Society for European Philosophy and the Forum for European Philosophy at the University of Dundee between 3 and 5 September 2015
Here are a musician, a computer and a work of music
And they are easy to tell apart, aren’t they?
In this paper I will suggest otherwise. Taking as a starting point the Extended Mind hypothesis of Clark and Chalmers (2010) and Derrida’s discussion of the nature of an artwork’s frame in Parergon (1979) I will suggest that the boundaries between people, their tools and their artistic artefacts are far fuzzier (pace Kosko 1993) than we usually imagine.
I will draw on Derrida and the broadly “connectionist” philosophies of Deleuze, Guattari, Latour, DeLanda, Vitale and Hodder to propose a metaphysical space – Entangled Network Space (ENS) – where the interactions and connections between people and things can be explained and understood. I will borrow Derrida’s description of the parergon, i.e., that which perhaps is, or is not, part of the work and conjoin that discussion with a description of what I call the paraprosopon, i.e., that which perhaps is, or is not, part of the person. It is in this Entangled Network Space where our ever-shifting prosoponal encounters with the ergonal things in the world ultimately have meaning.
References:
• Clark. A. and D.J. Chalmers 2010 (in Menary, R. (ed.) 2010). “The Extended Mind” The Extended Mind. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. (27-42).
• Derrida, J. 1979. “The Parergon” October. 9. 3-41.
• Kosko, B. 1994. Fuzzy Thinking. London: Flamingo (Harper Collins)
Babette Babich said at a recent London conference that, ‘It is the role of continental philosophy to make explanations more complex rather than less’. I will assert that explanations of musical meaning in the analytical tradition fail in virtue of the fact that they are not complex enough. I will propose that musical meaning is fundamentally indeterminate when considered diachronically. Finally, I will contend that any real-world phenomenal explanation of how we determine musical meaning must take into account this complex and indeterminate metaphysics.
I will illustrate my points by reference to two musical exemplars; the first movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 and a recent ‘piece’ by me, Network, put together with the iPad app Garageband. The relevance of the eponymous cheese-makers of the title will become clear in this context.