Music in the European Liberal Arts Tradition (from 9th to 14th Century)

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370083
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of thought
• Research Institution: Higashi Nippon International University
• Principal Investigator: SEKIZAWA Izumi 東日本国際大学, 東洋思想研究所, 准教授 (90634262)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 中世思想史 / 音楽思想史 / 中世哲学 / 学問史 / 芸術学 / 思想史 / 学問論 / 生得性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We find in the European liberal arts tradition a certain ancestor of the current trend of enhancing (generic) skills in higher education. According to this tradition, for example, grammar and music enhance some innate faculties. In this research, the case of music from the 9th to 14th century was traced and the following points were revealed: first, the 'speculative' approach to the music was clearly reshaped just after the reintroduction of the corpus aristotelicum (esp. after the 13th century) and many authors of these centuries considered 'musica humana' simply as vocal music, which played an important role in the episteme of the period, differently from the common narratives; second, the reintroduction of the Aristotelianism transformed the theoretical meaning of music; some authors of the 13th and 14th centuries tried to relocate the abilities concerning music, previously considered simply as shared ones by the humans and other animals, into a certain domain proper to the humans.

Free Research Field

思想史・哲学史