[lit-ideas] Re: Persuasion Redux and Merry Christmas

Thanks to Eric Y. for attempting an elucidation of the "being persuaded"/"being
convinced" distinction (or not) in the context of music theory. Alas, when it
comes to music, I remain a crass emotivist: what is good is what makes me feel
good. Hence, the intelligibility and cogency of the metaphoric applications of
logical concepts to that realm escape me. 

One small clarification. By "apriori," I refer not to deduction of particulars
from general principles but rather, a la Kant, to universal and necessary
principles and concepts individuating some discourse, or the competences
therein. 

Thank you, Eric, for your early Christmas greetings. We, the "believers in the
truth," along with John Rawls and Jurgen Habermas, continue to await the birth
of the one and only Christ.

Walter O.
Peter of the Avalon




Quoting Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>:

> >>"[T]he interpretation ... uses its own system of a priori events 
> built on persuasion"
> 
> WO: I find to be either unintelligible or self-contradictory. Events are
> not proper objects of attributions of a priori status since they are all
> empirical and hence contingent. That which is apriori renders events and
> states of affairs possible as objects of empirical inquiry.
> 
> EY: Remember we were talking about music here.
> 
> The "a priori" (deductive reasoning from general principle to necessary
> effect) is the interpreted score -- often the product of much thought
> and rehearsal, from general principle (absolute score) to necessary
> effect (the decision to interpret the musical architecture and phrasing
> in a certain way) -- which finds its "event" in the particular musical
> performance itself.
> 
> It "builds on persuasion" because a masterful interpretation (a)
> persuades you of its truth in such a way that it is difficult to imagine
> the piece played in any other way, (b) creates its musical persuasion
> through an inner musical rhetoric (on the part of the interpreter) which
> is analogous to a syllogism and is every bit as strict and rigorous; is
> in fact, composed of thousands of syllogistic choices by the performer,
> and (c) is capable of convincing the listener that this performance
> embodies the voice of the composer, source of the pure musical score.
> 
> This effect is most apparent in classical music, because that music is
> often founded on an absolute score (post-metronome), but I see no reason
> why it should be limited to classical music. To come away from a
> performance of Schumann convinced that "this is what Schumann intended,"
> is not radically different from hearing a jazz pianist "make Art Tatum
> live again."
> 
> Wishing WO a Merry Christmas a little early,
> Eric
> 
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