CFP: Music and Philosophy: Meaning and Ineffability

The RMA Music and Philosophy Study Group warmly invites paper submissions for this two-day international conference, to be held in London on 20-21 July 2012. The event, the second of an annual series of conferences run by the Study Group, will offer an opportunity for those with an interest in music and philosophy to share and discuss work, in the hope of furthering dialogue in this area. Paper submissions on all topics related to the area of music and philosophy are welcome, but in particular those relating to this year’s optional theme of ‘Meaning and ineffability’. Collaboration between persons from different disciplines would be especially welcomed.

In addition to papers relating to the conference theme, topics of interest might include (but are not limited to):

- perception and expression
- music and memory
- music and everyday life
- music and ethics
- music and ontology
- the philosophy of rhythm
- performance, authenticity, and interpretation

Conference theme 2012: ‘Meaning and ineffability’

Musical meaning and ineffability have engaged both musicologists and philosophers for decades, resulting in a variety of approaches and debates. While both challenging and elusive, both concepts bear witness to musicological and philosophical endeavours to ascertain what might be meaningful and sayable ‘about’ music, and whether (and/or how) music is able to speak for itself in ways that can be world-disclosive. This year’s (optional) theme seeks to encourage further debate about the possibilities and limitations within the area of ‘musical meaning and ineffability’: while seeking to explain music, where do musicological and philosophical discussions fall short, and why? Are there ways of ‘doing justice’ to what music does and ‘says’, and do scholars have ethical commitments to continue to reflect and explain?

Proposals of up to 500 words are invited for individual papers (20 minutes) and collaborative papers (up to 30 minutes).

Please submit proposals by email in a word document attachment: [email protected]

The deadline for proposals is Friday 17 February.