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The “tuning-in” relationship in music and in ethics

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Abstract

In “Making Music Together: A Study in Social Relationship,” Alfred Schutz offers a phenomenological description of a structure he contends is at the root not only of shared musical meaning, but of human communication and social relations as such: the “tuning-in relationship.” The aim of what follows is to establish that this same structure is at the root of ethical relationships, which may shed some light on the conditions under which it is possible to respond appropriately to ethically fraught situations. Schutz’ analysis of the play of internal and external time establishes what the tuning-in relationship must be, but not yet how it is possible. His account also points to two important preconditions of tuning in: embodiment as the middle term between internal and external time, and practices as more widely shared meaning contexts which may persist across generations. For several reasons, Schutz does not give embodiment its due in his account, though his earlier work on course-of-action types sheds some light on the nature of practices. In all, though, these amount to promising leads for further investigation.

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Notes

  1. National Society of Professional Engineers (2019).

  2. Aristotle (2011, 1104a5-10).

  3. These are aspects of moral imagination, as set out by Werhane (1999, p. 100).

  4. For example, Annas (2011, p. 13-14).

  5. For example, these other ways of connecting music and ethics are the main concerns of Cobussen and Nielsen (2016).

  6. See Tomlinson (2015, pp. 24-25)

  7. Schutz (1951, p. 79).

  8. Schutz (1951, p. 76); see also Schutz (1976, pp. 23-24).

  9. Schutz (1951, 90).

  10. Merleau-Ponty (1968, p. 167).

  11. Schutz (1951, p. 78).

  12. Schutz (1967, p. 75).

  13. See Schutz (1976, p. 29).

  14. Modern urban contra dance is the present-day extension of a centuries-old tradition of American social dance, with couples arranged in longways sets, subdivided into “minor sets” of two couples each. A caller prompts the dancers through a sequence of figures for each round of the dance, after which each couple progresses up or down the longways set to dance the same sequence again in a new minor set. The musical repertoire of modern contra dance is broad, but it draws from and remains close to the traditional music of the British Isles and North America.

  15. Schutz (1951: pp. 88-89).

  16. Schutz (1976, p. 37).

  17. Bergson (2001, p. 100).

  18. Bergson (2001, pp. 100-01).

  19. Schutz (1951. p. 88).

  20. See Husserl (1991: p. 25).

  21. Noddings (2013, p. 35).

  22. Schutz (1951, p. 89).

  23. Schutz (1951, p. 96-97).

  24. Schutz (1976, p. 27).

  25. Schutz (1951, p. 82).

  26. Schutz (1976, pp. 42-43).

  27. See Sacks (2007, p. 244).

  28. Schutz (1976, p. 47).

  29. Schutz (2013, p. 21).

  30. See, for example, Levitin (2016, p. 58).

  31. Sheets-Johnstone (2015, p. 88).

  32. The tendency of traditional tunes to vary widely across their range – sometimes even changing names and keys – is known colloquially among musicians as “the folk process.” See also Benson (2003, p.78).

  33. Sheets-Johnstone (2015, p. 83). Notably, Schutz concurs that rhythm “always refers to actual or virtual body movements in space,” in Schutz (2013, p. 21).

  34. “Old-time” is a longstanding musical tradition of the southern Appalachian Mountains; Bluegrass is a later derivative of old-time and other traditions that emerged in the work of professional musicians in the mid-twentieth century. Mandolin is not traditionally part of an old-time string band, but may be tolerated under certain conditions.

  35. Schutz (1951, p. 85).

  36. Schutz (1967, pp. 185-86).

  37. Schutz (1967, p. 186).

  38. Benson (2003, p. 41).

  39. Schutz (1967, p. 214).

  40. MacIntyre (2007, p. 187).

  41. MacIntyre (2007, p. 216).

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  1. School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 685 Cherry Street, Atlanta, GA, 30334-0345, USA

    Robert Kirkman

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Kirkman, R. The “tuning-in” relationship in music and in ethics. Cont Philos Rev 56, 279–293 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-023-09606-2

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