Overview

What counts as music for contemporary thinkers? Why is music of use to philosophers and how do they use it in their work? How do philosophers decide what music is and what assumptions are uncritically inherited in this move? And what is the philosophical relationship between music and gender? To answer these questions, Sarah Hickmott looks at the way music is used, characterised and understood in the work of Jean-Luc Nancy, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Alain Badiou. Despite the differences in their philosophical-theoretical positions, all of these writers invoke music - both directly and indirectly - to negotiate their relationship to ontology, politics, ethics and aesthetics. Given a longer philosophical history, dating back at least to Plato, of aligning music with the feminine, she also focuses on the way gender is deployed, understood and constructed within the philosophy of music.

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9781474458313

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Reviews

"[...] this book will be valuable for readers interested in a survey of how the relation between music and gender manifests in the work of three influential French philosophers, but it can also be read more generally as a compelling and occasionally provocative call to interrogate the many ways in which the idea of music has been (and continues to be) deployed across academic disciplines and social discourses.--Andrew Kingston ""H-France Review"" Engaging brilliantly with the difficult question of what we talk about, philosophically and historically, when we talk about music, and specifically with what contemporary French philosophers have said about music and how they have said it, Hickmott delivers a robust and subtle critique of 'musical exceptionalism' in recent French thought.-- ""Patrick Ffrench, King's College London"" Hickmott has written a work of fine scholarship and trenchant critique. It gives a persuasive overview of the role played by music in the philosophical tradition and the legacy of this the thought of Nancy, Lacoue-Labarthe, and Badiou, persuasively marking the limits of each, yet also offering an important and original account of the embeddedness of music in technical, social, and conceptual forms.-- ""Ian James, University of Cambridge"" Sarah Hickmott's excellent book challenges essentialist notions of the autonomy of music, through a rigorous and insightful study of the musical philosophies of Jean-Luc Nancy, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe and Alain Badiou [...] It's impressively written and, significantly, it's a treat to read.--Robert Clarke ""Culture and Dialogue"" Sarah Hickmott's work has the qualities of being richly detailed and thought-provoking [...] a stimulating read.--John McKeane, University of Reading ""Modern Language Review"""

Author Information

Sarah Hickmott is Assistant Professor in French at the University of Durham.

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