Abstract

The inspiration for this book originated in a startling comment made by Hermann von Helmholtz more than a century ago. It concerns natural philosophy and musical aesthetics. Helmholtz thought that natural philosophy serves musical aesthetics. This raises a paradox concerning sound, philosophy, and human hearing. Could we envision a philosophy of hearing and sound that overcomes Western prejudices concerning music, noise, and tonality? Akoumena takes a critical stance towards the reductionist tendencies within the natural sciences. It suggests that the mechanistic-materialistic mode of inquiry that has risen to prominence in the sciences is a blind alley for philosophy and that phenomenology has a powerful role to play in reconfiguring the intellectual landscape of the twenty-first century. The book aims at integrating diverse styles of inquiry into a philosophy of hearing and sound that harkens back to premodern philosophical systems and archaic modes of experience.