Association Theory of Meaning: A Reconstruction of the Literature

Abstract

The dispute continues as to whether or not art has meaning. Sparshott (1994: 23) says of Malcolm Budd’s, Music and the Emotions (1985), Budd’s book…ended by giving the impression that we lacked any theory of the relation between music and the emotions. On the relation between music and emotions Sparshott wrote, We do not know what such a theory should be and have no reason to seek such knowledge (23). In what sense can we say that a painting or sonata has meaning? Claims are made. Some expressionists and others held that art expresses meaning and others, such as Hanslick, Scruton and the formalists claim that it has no meaning at all. The issue is clear. Either there are no meanings or there are. But the arguments are unclear. There seems to be little advance being made on understanding how to resolve the issue.

There is virtually unanimous agreement that C major is a cheerful key.

Young 1991: 240