Music and Morality

Roger Scruton

doi:10.63413/disputatio.411

Roger Scruton University of Oxford, UK

DOI: https://doi.org/10.63413/disputatio.411

Keywords: Music, Musical language, Moral character, Virtues and vices, Interpretation, Analogy, Metaphor, Music Theory, Adorno, Elgar

Abstract

This essay reflects on the relationship between music and morality, and in particular, provides a philosophical answer to two important questions: Can moral character be specifically attributed to music?, and, if so, how does this moral musical character affect on the moral sense of the people who listen to this music? These questions lead to a final reflection on the limits of critical interpretation of the musical work.

Author Biography

Roger Scruton, University of Oxford, UK

Roger Scruton is Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Oxford and at the School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Cinema Studies of the University of St. Andrews. PhD in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.