Topics Music

Question We often hear people saying about how a certain artist or composer is better than another. Many people, for example, believe Bach and Verdi to be better musicians than, say, Rihanna or Justin Bieber. I share this same belief, but it is mostly based on intuition than on rational arguments. It is certainly true that Bach was able to develop a musical theme in a much more organized and logical way than Rihanna is, but does it really mean that Bach is a better musician than Rihanna? Is it true that there is such thing as a good and a bad composer or is it all just a matter of taste? Could you point out to me some arguments and readings which are relevant to this type of question?

Accepted:
March 21, 2013

Comments

Aesthetics isn't my area, but since no one else has responded I'll take a stab at it. To someone who thinks that aesthetic judgments can't be objectively true or false -- someone who thinks that aesthetic judgments are in that respect fundamentally subjective -- I'd pose two questions:

(1) We often seem to make objective aesthetic judgments, such as the judgments concerning Bach and Rihanna that you mentioned in your question; why not take those judgments at face value? Why think we have to interpret those judgments as non-objective?

(2) If there's a worry that aesthetic judgments can't be objectively true or false, does that worry extend to normative judgments in general, including the judgment that some ways of reasoning are better than others or that some ways of treating people are better than others? If it does, then it's a worry about objective normative judgments in general rather than aesthetic judgments in particular. If it doesn't, then what makes aesthetic judgments less likely to be objective than other kinds of normative judgment?

Again, though, this isn't my area. You'll no doubt learn much more by exploring the entry on 'Aesthetic Judgment' in the SEP and the Aesthetics Online website. Best of luck.