MUSIC 574: Tempus Resonans: Music and the Philosophy of Time
This course will cover some of the major theories and paradoxes of time in the history of Western thought and culture, both from objective (physical / metaphysical / logical) and subjective (logical / phenomenological / musical) perspectives. We will also look at theories of time in embodied cognition. Excerpts and ideas from names, dropped here in no significant order, such as Borges, Emerson, McTaggart, Kant, Einstein, Bergson, Deleuze, Merleau-Ponty, Augustine and Nietzsche will occupy us about half the time. In the other half, we will analyze music and other art forms of the 20th/21st centuries from composers like Ives, Grisey, Andriessen, Hosokawa, and me, who use music as a platform to reimagine the passage of time and our relations to it. No prior background in philosophy is required; we will learn the relevant shoptalk and tools along the way!
Evaluation
In-class participation [30%] this means being an active partner in discussions. You will need to read everything and be conversant on it (sometimes this just means getting clear about what you don't understand and why). You may at times be asked to present briefly on specific reading excerpts.
Topic Presentations [25%] presentations on important philosophical concepts/distinctions (2 for graduates, 1 for undergrads). More information/instructions can be found by clicking the link. Each student will meet with me on the Monday before their presentation to get feedback before presenting.
Paper/Project Presentations [15%] 20 minute presentations on your final paper or project (10 min. presentation / 10 min. discussion) during final exam period.
Final Papers/Projects [30%] there will be two options for the final: a c.15-page research paper (c. 5,000-7,500 words) — or — an original artwork that responds to material related to the class TOGETHER with a shorter theoretical statement (7-8 pages/c. 3,500 words), due on the date of the final exam: Monday, March 16th at 6:30 pm.
Textbook:
Power, Philosophy of Time: A Contemporary Introduction (2021)
Further resources:
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Introduction: the poetry of time
Borges, Ars poetica/Arte poética (1960)
Emerson, The Sphinx (1841)
Ives, The Unanswered Question (1908...) | (pdf)
Metaphysics
Is time even real?
Guiding questions for reading comprehension
Augustine, Confessions, Book XI, ch. 14 (AD 397-401)
Kant, 1st Antinomy from The Critique of Pure Reason (1781/87)
Power, ch. 1; Kant’s Antinomies
Hodge, Kant's 1st antinomy in ND with summary of remarks
McTaggart, Time is Unreal (1927), The Unreality of Time (1908) - excerpts | (outline)
Priest, Logic: a very short introduction, ch. 8 (1999)
Hodge, On modality
see Power, ch. 2 for a detailed treatment of the McTaggart paradox (optional)
Presentation Topic: Being and Becoming
Guiding questions for reading comprehension
Hodge, Music and the Geometry of Time Dilation
Time is the substance I am made of (2013) score | recording
Thompson, Bergson v. Einstein: Clock Time contra Lived Time
Hodge, Bergson v. Einstein (outline)
Power, Philosophy of Time, ch. 4; two excerpts:
(Relative Simultaneity...stop at Relative Temporal Order) AND
(Objections to Relative Time...stop at Tense Theory Objections)
Hall, Velocity Raptor (a special relativity dinosaur game!)
Kortemeyer, et al., A Slower Speed of Light (a more beautiful 😄, but less fun 😞 game)
Presentation Topic: Subjectivity and Objectivity
Bergson, Introduction to Metaphysics (1903/12)
Presentation Topic: Metaphysics/Ontology
What is temporal art? What is the temporality of art?
Power, Philosophy of Time, ch. 9 (full chapter)
Power, ch. 9 Audio/Video links
Participation assignment: bring in an example of an artwork that raises interesting questions or expresses an interesting perspective on time.
Presentation Topic: Epistemology
Phenomenology
Power, Philosophy of Time, ch. 6 (Phenomenological Models of Time to the end of the chapter)
Husserl, § 9-10 from The Phenomenology of Internal Time-Consciousness (1904-05)
Merleau-Ponty, Temporality from Phenomenology of Perception (1945)
Presentation Topic: Phenomenology
Exarchos, The Skin of Spectral Time in Griseys Le noir de l'etoile
Grisey, Le noir de l'etoile (1990)
Tempus Ex Machina: A composer's reflections on musical time (1987)
Presentation Topic: Gestalt Psychology
Embodied cognition of time
Kozak Enacting musical time, ch. 4
Presentation Topic: Embodied Cognition
Kozak Enacting musical time, ch. 5
Stockhausen, Stimmung (1968): score | recording
Andriessen, De Tijd (1981): score | recording
Neuwirth, Clinamen/Nodus (1999): score | recording
Power, Philosophy of Time, ch. 6; (Introduction...stop at Phenomenological Models of Time; you may skip "Tense Theory" and "Tenseless Theory")
Augustine, Confessions, Book XI (AD 397-401) (optional)
Kozak Enacting musical time, ch. 6
Hosokawa, Vertical Time Study I (1993): score | recording
Nietzsche, Die Fröhliche Wissenschaft (1882); Book IV, Aphorism 341
Course Summary:
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