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Re: [microsound] analytical vs continental philosophy & microsound

Dear Matt:

I teach the first group to grad students (Foucault, D &G, etc.). I'm also microtonalist (Partch-inspired), of the Stockhausen ilk, and a born-again Braxtonian. I do performance pieces that include Pythagorean-based sound architecture/sound design. This semester, I'm going to teach Stephen Wilson's Information Arts (a much broader approach to culture than either side--the two groups overlap insofar as members of both have influenced the many, many artists covered in Wilson's book). Although I think I can intuit your reasoning, I'm interested in why you think (with more precision, please) that the other group (Wittgenstein) gets the precision (vs. depth?) award. Derrida is nothing if not precise. Could you refer me to texts that you have found useful/inspiring/helpful as a composer/musician/music theorist/etc.?

As far as raising these issues on this list--I think it is a good idea. The field of Cultural Studies has churned out a lot of less than useful things about music (along with significant criticism), and Cultural Studies aligns itself with group one, so maybe it is a good time to reconsider group two. The divide between continental philosophy and list two (analytic philosophy etc.) can be found in philosophy departments. Literature departments in the United States chose group one in the 1970s. A sociological study has shown how Derrida was marketed in the United States. This all may have something to do historical resentments between cultural traditions (British, French), but then how do we account for the centrality of England in Cultural Studies and the centrality of French thought in Cultural Studies? Marxism in its various forms enters here. And let's not forget that the Ur-Cultural Studies department in England was just dismantled ("reorganized"). I think the questions you raise have to be looked at in relation to postcolonial studies/digital culture/empire (in Hardt and Negri's sense). All of this is connected to divisions in literary spillage into music: open mic, rap, hip hop, spoken word and language poet communities and many other rhizomatic "fissures" (I've now mixed so many metaphors I'm exhausted and confused).

Emily

At 06:45 PM 8/1/02 +0200, you wrote:

I think most of this "academic" divide only exist on the internet. At least as a "problem". Discussions on the internet (mailing lists or disc. forums) tend to become polarized in a way that most probably would not happen if you met face2face.

Personally I favor a more spaced-out framwork (i.e. R2D2, Gong etc.).



At 11.11 +0200 02-08-01, Matt Laffey wrote: 
So here's something I've been wondering about:

Why is it that the more academically/theory inclined people involved with microsound music (in whatever way) tend to favor/employ a continental/post-structuralist/post-modernist framework/context (eg. Foucault, D&G, Baudrillard, Heidegger, Bhabha, Derrida, etc.) opposed to say a framework rooted in the analytical/contemporary philo. of mind/language/science/etc tradition (eg. Wittgenstein, Chomsky, Davidson, Strawson, Putnam, Fodor, etc.)?

My knee jerk reaction would be that continental/post-modern frameworks tend to consider culture and cultural artifacts (i.e. music) more so than analytical philosophy. But the analytical tradition (post-logical positivist)tends to deal with ontological/metaphysical questions (which really are just a hop, skip and jump away from music) in a much more rigorous and realist manner which would at least, on the surface, appear to be of some interest to those inclined towards Theory (neutral use of capital "t") and music.

So for those interested, what do you think?

matt laffey

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