Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Commentary on 'De Anima'', 'The Nature of Musical Expression' and 'How there could be a private language'

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4 ideas

18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 4. Language of Thought

2604	We must have expressive power BEFORE we learn language [Fodor]
	Full Idea: I am denying that one can learn a language whose expressive power is greater than that of a language that one already knows.
	From: Jerry A. Fodor (How there could be a private language [1975], p.389)
	A reaction: I presume someone who had a native language of limited vocabulary could learn a new language with a vast vocabulary. I can increase my expressive power with a specialist vocabulary (e.g. legal).

21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 4. Art as Expression

12165	Romantics say music expresses ideas, or the Will, or intuitions, or feelings [Scruton]
	Full Idea: According to the Romantic theory music was an expression of something, of an idea (Hegel), of the Will (Schopenhauer), of 'intuitions' (Croce), or of feelings (Collingwood).
	From: Roger Scruton (The Nature of Musical Expression [1981], p.54)
	A reaction: Deryck Cooke was the culmination of music as expression of feeling, and Stravinsky was the greatest rebel against the whole idea of expression in music. You can set out to create interesting music which does or does not grab the emotions.

21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 4. Emotion in Art

12164	Expressing melancholy is a good thing, but arousing it is a bad thing [Scruton]
	Full Idea: To describe a piece of music as expressive of melancholy is to give a reason for listening to it; to describe it as arousing or evoking melancholy is to give a reason for avoiding it.
	From: Roger Scruton (The Nature of Musical Expression [1981], p.49)
	A reaction: Expressing sexual desire, while avoiding arousing it, is the nice challenge for a particular type of art. Would Scruton say that expressing joy is a good thing, but arousing it is bad? It is a nice observation, though.

22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / e. Death

16764	The soul conserves the body, as we see by its dissolution when the soul leaves [Toletus]
	Full Idea: Every accident of a living thing, as well as all its organs and temperaments and its dispositions are conserved by the soul. We see this from experience, since when that soul recedes, all these dissolve and become corrupted.
	From: Franciscus Toletus (Commentary on 'De Anima' [1572], II.1.1), quoted by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 24.5
	A reaction: A nice example of observing a phenemonon, but not being able to observe the dependence relation the right way round. Compare Descartes in Idea 16763.