Beyond Translation: Music, Language, and Mediation
Abstract
This article reconsiders the problem of musical meaning by reformulating the relationship between music and language. Through a critical reading of Friedrich Nietzsche and Claude Lévi-Strauss, it examines two insufficient interpretive models: the illustrative model, which subordinates music to prior conceptual contents, and the naturalist model, which seeks to ground its intelligibility in physiological determinations. Against both approaches, musical meaning is understood as a form of non-propositional, non-univocal, and non-arbitrary openness, articulated through operations of cultural ordering and partially stabilized by interpretive mediations. From this perspective, mimesis is redefined as a principle for configuring the sonic continuum, while musical autonomy is conceived as resistance to full translation, rather than as isolation from language or culture.
Downloads
Article download
Crossmark
License
In order to support the global exchange of knowledge, the journal Revista de Filosofía is allowing unrestricted access to its content as from its publication in this electronic edition, and as such it is an open-access journal. The originals published in this journal are the property of the Complutense University of Madrid and any reproduction thereof in full or in part must cite the source. All content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 use and distribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This circumstance must be expressly stated in these terms where necessary. You can view the summary and the complete legal text of the licence.
