Musical works: Ontology and meta-ontology

Philosophy Compass 3 (6):1113-1134 (2008)
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Abstract

The ontological nature of works of music has been a particularly lively area of philosophical debate during the past few years. This paper serves to introduce the reader to some of the most fertile and interesting issues. Starting by distinguishing three questions – the categorial question, the individuation question, and the persistence question – the article goes on to focus on the first: the question of which ontological category musical works fall under. The paper ends by introducing, and briefly considering, meta-ontological questions in the ontology of music.

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Julian Dodd
University of Leeds

Citations of this work

Improvisation in the Arts.Aili Bresnahan - 2015 - Philosophy Compass 10 (9):573-582.
Musical works, types and modal flexibility reconsidered.Nemesio García-Carril Puy - forthcoming - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 80 (3):295–308.
Fictionalism about musical works.Anton Killin - 2018 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 48 (2):266-291.

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References found in this work

Ordinary Objects.Amie L. Thomasson (ed.) - 2007 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Sameness and substance.David Wiggins - 1980 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Survival and identity.David Lewis - 1976 - In Amelie Oksenberg Rorty (ed.), The Identities of Persons. University of California Press. pp. 17-40.
Events as Property Exemplifications.Jaegwon Kim - 1976 - In M. Brand & D. Walton (eds.), Action Theory. D. Reidel. pp. 310-326.

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