The Possibility of a Philosophy of Music. An Analytical Study of the Concepts of Phenomenon, Time and Sound Space in Giovanni Piana

Authors

  • Davide Eugenio Daturi Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

Keywords:

Giovanni Piana, philosophy, music, phenomenology, sound space

Abstract

This article aims to prove that Giovanni Piana’s philosophy of music sufficiently
illustrates the possibility of a structured and systematic reflection on music. The
proposal presented by the Italian philosopher, which originates and develops within the framework of a phenomenological perspective, allows us to understand the methodological problems that must be resolved and the structural analyses that must be proposed to understand the basis of a philosophical study of this art. After an introduction of some historical theories about music and the problem around the philosophy of music, we will focus on the philosophical proposal of Giovanni Piana where the Italian philosopher says to place us within the limits of music to highlight the structural legality that resides in the background of all the acoustic phenomenonthat the author defines the “sound space”.

Author Biography

Davide Eugenio Daturi, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

Of Italian origin, he completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Philosophy at the Università degli Studi di Milano (Italy). He holds a Ph.D. in Humanities from the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, where he currently works as a tenured full-time professor. His research areas include French phenomenology, phenomenological aesthetics, 20th-century Mexican philosophy, and the Milan School. He is the author of Merleau-Ponty and the Questioning of the Metaphysics of the Subject (Coimbra University Press, 2023) and editor of the volume Aesthetic Meditations: Sensible Experience and Its Horizons.

References

Abbate, C. & Gallope, M. (2021). The Ineffable (and Beyond). En Mcauley, T., Nielsen, N. & Levinson, J. (Coords.). Western Music and Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Agustín de Hipona. (2007). De música. Madrid: Gredos.

Arias, M. (2007). Música y neurología. En Neurología, 22(1). pp.39-45. Recuperado de: https://www.brainmusic.org/EducationalActivities/Arias_musicneuro2007.pdf

Arias, M. (2014). Music and The Brain: Neuromusicology. Neurosciences and History. 2(4). pp. 149-155. Recuperado de: https://nah.sen.es/en/issues/lastest-issues/137journals/volume-2/

issue-4/282-music-and-the-brain-neuromusicology

Aristóteles. (1988). Política. M. García Valdés (Trad.). Madrid: Gredos.

Batteux, C. (2015). The Fine Arts Reduced to a Single Principle. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bueno, G., (2007, abril 13). Curso de Filosofía de la música – a1 [archivo de video]. Recuperado desde: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8lBssdI6bI&t=3522s

Chadwick, H. (1981). Boethius. The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology and Philosophy. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Castelli, L. M. (2022). Alexander of Aphrodisias and Musical Models for Ontological Enquiries. En Pelosi, F. & Petrucci F.M. (Coords.). Music and Philosophy in the Roman Empire. UK: Cambridge University Press.

Cortés Cisneros, Ó. A. (2020). Historia de la filosofía de la música. México: Palabra de Clío.

Hegel, G.W.F. (1973). Introducción a la estética. R. Mazo (Trad.). Barcelona: Peninsula.

Herder, J. G. (1982). Obra selecta. P. Ribas (Trad.). Madrid: Alfaguara.

Jankélévitch, V. (1953). La musique et l’ineffable. Paris: Seuil.

Kania, A. (2020). Philosophy of Western Music. A Contemporary ntroduction. New York: Routledge.

Kant, I., (2015). Critica del juicio. A. García Moreno, J. Ruvira (Trads.). Madrid: Tecnos.

Kivy, P. (2002). Introduction to a Philosophy of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Leibniz, G. W. (1982). Escritos filosóficos. R. Torretti, T. E. Zwanck y E. de Olaso (Trads.). Buenos Aires: Editorial Charcas.

Leibniz, W. (1983). Nuevos ensayos sobre el entendimiento humano. J. Echeverría Ezponda (Trad.). Madrid: Editora Nacional.

Michalewsky, A. (2022). Plotinus on Music, Rhythm, and Harmony. En Pelosi, F., Petrucci F.M., (Coords.). Music and Philosophy in the Roman Empire. Uk: Cambridge University Press.

Moutsoupolus, E. (2004). La philosophie de la musique dans le système de Proclus. Athènes: Acad. D’Athènes.

O’Meara, D.J. (2022). The Music of the Virtues in Late Ancient Platonism. En Pelosi, F., Petrucci F.M., (Coords.). Music and Philosophy in the Roman Empire. Uk: Cambridge University Press.

Pelosi, F., Petrucci F.M. (Coords.). (2022). Music and Philosophy in the Roman Empire. UK: Cambridge University Press.

Piana, G. (2013). Filosofia della musica. Lulu.com

Piana, G. (2007). Barlumi per una filosofía della musica. Recuperado de: http://filosofia.dipafilo.unimi.it/piana/index.php/filosofia-della-musica/72-barlumi-per-una-filosofia-della-musica

Plotino. (1985). Enéadas. Vol. I y II, Madrid: Gredos.

Rowell, L. (1983). Introducción a la filosofía de la música: antecedentes históricos y problemas estéticos. M Wald (Trad.). Madrid: Gedisa.

Serra, C. (2008). Musica Corpo Espressione. Roma: Quodlibet.

Tatarkiewicz, W. (2008). Historia de seis ideas: arte, belleza, forma, creatividad, mímesis, experiencia estética. F. Rodríguez Martin (Trad.). Madrid: Tecnos.

Vico, G. (1995). Ciencia Nueva. R. de la Villa Ardura, Díazh S. (Trads.). Madrid: Tecnos.

Vizzardelli, S. (2015). Filosofia della musica. Bari: Laterza.

Young, J. O. (2023). A History of Western Philosophy of Music. UK: Cambridge University Press.

Downloads

Published

2025-06-17

Issue

No. 44 (2025): July-December

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Eidos

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term "Work" shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
The Author shall grant to the Publisher a nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons 3.0 License Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported CC BY-NC 3.0, or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions: (a) Attribution: Other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;(b) Noncommercial: Other users (including Publisher) may not use this Work for commercial purposes;
4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
5. Authors are permitted, and Eidos promotes, to post online the preprint manuscript of the Work in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access). Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work is expected be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Eidos's assigned URL to the Article and its final published version in Eidos.