Paulo Mouat wrote:
On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 7:13 AM, Damian Stewart <damian@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:by assuming that we listen to music as individuals, it objectifies music. it turns it into these precisely defined units that we can consume based on conscious choices we have made as rational agents living in a world of individuals.Absolutely not. We always listen as individuals; I might love pianomusic, whereas you don't.
It's obvious that people have different preferences, yes, but not I think what Damian's point is.
As I read him (heavily influenced by my own opinions, of course), Damian is pointing out that the very ideas of "music" and "piano" are themselves matters of social, not individual, definition. In order to talk about, or share something /as/ music, we do so within shared cultural understandings of what constitutes "music"; ditto "pianos".
As such the idea of completely individuated reception or creation is ideological, rather than explanatory: we don't listen as individuals, because everything we listen to is given meaning within socially constructed contexts.
Keyword: "I".
It is not necessary to deny the (evident) existence of a _sense_ of self in order to assert that the very constitution of that sense is a social matter.
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