The Cosmic Fugue: Exploring Musical Metaphors in Astronomy
(Webb, 2013)
Lydia Kooistra Master Thesis Comparative Cultural Analysis Thesis Advisor: Murat Aydemir Student number: 6138772 7 May, 2016
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Table of Contents
Introduction ...... 3 Examples of musical metaphors in media for the dissemination of astronomy ...... 5 Sonic phenomena ...... 6 The Big Bang ...... 7 The spectrum of electromagnetic radiation ...... 8 String theory ...... 9 Ornamental musical metaphors ...... 9 Chapter 1: Conceptual Metaphor Theory ...... 11 Linguistic form or conceptual metaphor ...... 11 MIP and MIPVU ...... 12 Conventionalized grammar or specific situations of usage ...... 13 Determining the similarities ...... 15 Primary and complex conceptual metaphors ...... 16 Discourse metaphors ...... 17 Chapter 2: Cosmos case study ...... 19 Description case study ...... 19 Analysis Cosmos case study ...... 24 Identifying source and target domains ...... 24 Grammar or usage? ...... 27 Identifying the conceptual metaphor ...... 28 Chapter 3: Case Study String Theory ...... 30 Description case study ...... 30 Analysis String Theory case study ...... 32 Identifying source and target domains ...... 32 Grammar or usage? ...... 34 Identifying the conceptual metaphor ...... 35 Chapter 4: Comparison case studies ...... 37 Summary ...... 37 Comparison ...... 37 Discourse Metaphor Approach ...... 38 Chapter 5: Harmony of the Spheres ...... 41 Origins of Harmony of the Spheres ...... 41 The Scientific Revolution ...... 43 2
Kepler’s Harmonic Law ...... 46 Music as a model at the beginning of modern science ...... 49 Conclusion ...... 52 Summary ...... 52 Music’s Sublime Quality ...... 53 Topics for further research ...... 56 Bibliography ...... 57
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Introduction
Music and astronomy are seemingly unrelated subjects that, at first glance, have no overlap in academia or in our day-to-day lives. The study of astronomy and the study of music (whether practical or theoretical) have no shared discourse. Indeed, these two studies could be regarded as representatives of the ‘two cultures’. The theory of ‘two cultures’ describes the gap between the sciences and the humanities and how the intellectuals of these fields have such different approaches, methods and behaviors that it is as if they belong to different cultures (Snow, 2012). Despite this lack in overlap between these two subjects, an interesting and contradicting trend can be observed in media meant for the dissemination of astronomy like documentaries, nonacademic articles, TED talks and educational YouTube videos. This trend involves the recurrent use of musical metaphors to explain complex astronomical concepts or phenomena to audiences unfamiliar to the field. For example, string theory is rarely explained to laymen without the use of the metaphor of a guitar or violin string that when plucked produces musical notes that represent the elementary particles that are produced by the frequency of the vibration of elementary strings. Apart from that, documentaries and nonacademic articles about astronomy are shot-through with terms like ‘celestial symphony’, ‘planetary orchestra’, ‘soundtrack of the universe’, and ‘space rings like a drum’. This metaphorical trend raises a number of questions. What is it about these musical metaphors that is particularly functional in this context? Does this trend have a basis in culture or history, or does it arise from a predisposition in human cognition that links these two subjects? What does this metaphorical trend imply about how we value music? Ultimately, the question I will try to answer in this thesis is as follows: why has the metaphorical trend that explains astronomical concepts in musical terms manifested itself in astronomy dissemination? By answering this question, I aim to be able to draw conclusions about the implications of this metaphorical trend for how music is viewed and valued in society. I aim to answer the question by analyzing two case studies that make use of musical metaphors in the context of astronomy dissemination. The analysis of these two case studies is useful to gain a comparative perspective. One of the case studies is a novel 4 example of a musical metaphor that is used in an episode of the popular 1980s astronomy series produced by Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980). Throughout this thesis, I will refer to this cast study as the Cosmos case study. This novel case study is relevant in relation to my second case study which will deal with a more general and consistently used example of a musical metaphor. It has been drawn upon by many scientists in many different sources over a period of almost 30 years. This is the string theory metaphor that I have mentioned previously, which is used to explain string theory in terms of the strings of a violin or guitar. I will discuss the general use of this metaphor, but I will pay special attention to a passage in the source that popularized this metaphor. I will refer to this case study as the the String Theory case study. The comparison of these very different types of case studies is helpful for determining if, despite their differences, they have a similar basis and, if so, whether this basis is historical, cultural or conceptual. I have identified Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) as a useful theory through which to analyze the musical metaphors in these case studies. This hermeneutic approach focuses on the role metaphor plays in conventional language rather than its ornamental use in literature and poetry. Furthermore, CMT not only shows how metaphors structure everyday conventional language, but also thought. This theory was established in 1980 with linguist George Lakoff’s and philosopher Mark Johnson’s groundbreaking book Metaphors We Live By. I will draw upon their work as well as work by other linguists and metaphor theorists such as Gerard Steen, Zoltán Kövecses, Joe Grady, Jörg Zinken, Iina Hellsten and Brigitte Nerlich who amongst others, have formalized, criticized, and developed this theory throughout the years. The first chapter of this thesis will be devoted to a comprehensive overview of the aspects of CMT that are relevant for the analysis of my case studies. Chapters 2 and 3 will consist of the analysis of the musical metaphors in each case study. These chapters will zoom in on two very specific examples of the usage of musical metaphors. In chapter 4, I will broaden my analysis by applying theories about discourse metaphors to the more general use of musical metaphors in astronomy dissemination. This will allow for an exploration of possible historical events that may have influenced the emergence of this metaphorical trend. This will be done in chapter 5, where the details and history of the theory of the Harmony of the Spheres will be discussed. This is a theory originating from 6th century BC that connects music with astronomy in a literal way (Heller-Roazen, 2011). With this 5 analysis, it is my intention to determine the reason the metaphorical trend of musical metaphors has manifested itself in astronomy dissemination and what the implications are of this trend for how music is viewed and valued. Before I begin with the overview of CMT, I would like to address two potentially problematic claims that underlie the question I have posed above. These claims are the following:
1. I claim that musical metaphors are used more often in dissemination media about astronomy than in dissemination media about other sciences; 2. I claim that musical metaphors are used more often than other types of metaphors in media for dissemination of astronomy.
Both of these claims are made on the basis of my own observation as a student of the humanities, having exposed myself to a large portion of astronomy dissemination due to my own amateur interest in the subject. The fact that I passively observed these patterns rather than actively sought them out, hopefully adds value to these claims. In the following section, I will attempt to substantiate these claims by enumerating a number of examples. I have chosen this qualitative approach to support this claim as opposed to a quantitative one that would involve the use of a computational model that could provide the number of occurrences of metaphorically used musical words in a text corpus (of TED talk transcripts, for example). Such an approach is beyond the scope of this thesis and not necessarily relevant, because the list of examples that follows will suffice as support for the claims above.
Examples of musical metaphors in media for the dissemination of astronomy
Not only will the following examples serve as an illustration of the consistent use of musical metaphors, but they also attest to their diversity. I have classified metaphors as musical when they use words that can be related to instruments, music theory, harmony, notes, musicians, groupings of musicians (orchestras, bands), symphonies, other musical units and musical genres. I have identified five categories of musical metaphors used within the context of astronomy dissemination. These categories are: 1) musical metaphors describing 6 sonic phenomena, 2) musical metaphors describing the Big Bang, 3) musical metaphors describing the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, 4) musical metaphors describing string theory and 5) ornamental musical metaphors.
Sonic phenomena
There is no sound in space and yet there are several waves that come from space that can be converted into sonic recordings. Astronomy dissemination about these recordings often go hand in hand with the use of musical metaphors. An example of this can be found in Jana Levin’s TED talk called “The Sound the Universe Makes” (2011). She discusses hypothetical recordings of space-time being warped by the gravity of celestial objects with an enormous mass like black holes. Black holes have so much gravity they are able to squeeze and stretch space-time, creating gravitational waves that would be able to resonate against a person’s ear drum were they close enough. Theoretically these waves can be recorded. At the time of Levin’s TED talk this was not yet possible. Detectors were not sensitive enough to pick up the gravitational waves. Levin states that the universe is still ‘ringing’ from the Big Bang and that someday we should be able to record the sounds left over from it. This TED talk is fraught with musical metaphors to describe the sounds from space and their meaning. For example, black holes cause space to ‘wobble like a drum’ and contribute to the ‘universe’s soundtrack’. The following passage shows the way Levin uses musical metaphors to make her main point:
(...) whatever year it will be when our detectors are finally at advanced sensitivity - we'll build them, we'll turn on the machines and, bang, we'll catch it - the first song from space. If it was the big bang we were going to pick up, it would sound like this. [Static comes out of the sound system] It's a terrible sound. It's literally the definition of noise. It's white noise; it's such a chaotic ringing. But it's around us everywhere, presumably, if it hasn't been wiped out by some other process in the universe. And if we pick it up, it will be music to our ears because it will be the quiet echo of that moment of our creation, of our observable universe. So within the 7
next few years we will be able to turn up the soundtrack a little bit, render the universe in audio. (Levin, 2011)
The meaning of the white noise/chaotic ringing of the big bang, our creation, will be ‘music to our ears; according to Levin. On February 11th, 2016 gravitational waves like the ones Levin speaks of, were recorded for the first time. Not of the big bang but of a nearby black hole. This information was released at a press conference which was live streamed to Columbia University where scientists discussed the findings with the public. Szabolcs Márka, one of the astrophysicists who worked on the project stated the following: “Until this moment, we had our eyes on the sky and we couldn’t hear the music. (…) [The discovery] lets us listen to the music of the cosmos. (…) you can appreciate Beethoven” (Colombia University, 2016). There are also a number of articles and informational videos on the internet that refer to plasma wave recordings as music. For example, a video released by NASA called “The Sounds of Interstellar Space” (2013) explained that recordings of plasma wave data recorded by Voyager 1 indicated that it had left the heliosphere. This was “music to Gurnett’s ears” (the scientist who had made the discovery). The metaphor continues as the narrator explains what causes the oscillations in the recording that indicate Voyager 1’s crossing. Waves caused by solar storms pass through the plasma and make sounds on the recording “akin to fingers strumming the strings on a guitar”. “Kepler’s Surprise: The Sounds of the Stars”, an article from the science journal Nature, also talks about plasma wave recordings. Here, small stars are compared to flutes and larger ones to trombones, and they are said to form a ‘celestial symphony’ because of the plasma waves they produce (Cowen, 2012). NASA’s timeline of science news from 2000-2015 consists of about a dozen articles referring to plasma wave recordings as music.
The Big Bang
Explanations of the big bang theory are often accompanied by references to a ringing sound. This was evident in Jana Levin’s TED talk, but also in many other sources. In Allan Adams TED talk, “The discovery that could rewrite physics” (2012), he describes the big bang in the following way: 8
Imagine you take a bell, and you whack the bell with a hammer. What happens? It rings. But if you wait, that ringing fades and fades and fades until you don't notice it anymore. Now, that early universe was incredibly dense, like a metal, way denser, and if you hit it, it would ring, but the thing ringing would be the structure of space-time itself, and the hammer would be quantum mechanics. (Adams, 2012)
‘Ringing’ does not necessarily have a musical connotation, but the projection that accompanies this statement does suggest that this ringing is musical. Although the ‘whacking’ of a bell with a hammer is hardly playing a musical instrument, the musical notes above the stick figure suggest that the ringing of the big bang is perceived by the whacker as musical.
(Adams, 2014: 2:20)
Another example of a musical big bang metaphor can be found in Amedeo Balbi’s book for non-specialized readers, The Music of the Big Bang (2008). Throughout the book Balbi refers to microwave background radiation emitted by the big bang as music.
The spectrum of electromagnetic radiation
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In dissemination media about a branch of astronomy called X-ray astrophysics or astronomical spectroscopy, another musical metaphor is commonly used. Astronomical spectroscopy makes it possible to view radio, infrared, ultraviolet, gamma and x-rays as well as visible light emitted by celestial objects. This allows astronomers to determine the composition of these objects. The spectrum of rays is often compared to a musical scale, like in an article released through NASA’s science news timeline: “Restricting our view to one part of the spectrum is like listening to just the middle keys of a piano: you miss most of the music” (Dooling, 1997). It is also used by Neil de Grasse Tyson in episode 5 of the remake of the popular astronomy series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980) called Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey (2014). Tyson states “There are many more kinds of light than our eyes can see. Confining our perception of nature to visible light is like listening to music in only one octave” (Tyson, 2014).
String theory
This is a category on its own due to the extensiveness of this metaphor, that not only compares elementary strings to instrumental strings, but also the sub nuclear particles being produced to musical notes and the laws of physics to the laws of harmony. This musical metaphor will be dealt with as a case study more extensively in chapter 3.
Ornamental musical metaphors
Besides the previous recurrent examples, other examples of musical metaphors occur that do not fall under these categories. An example of this can be found in the article called “The one-man band of astrophysics: An unusual x-ray pulsar bursts, pulses, and puzzles astronomers” (1998). As the title reveals, this author compares a pulsar to a musical one- man band. The metaphor is drawn upon throughout the whole article, starting with the statement: “The original astrophysical one-man band has sounded off again, this time for an encore that wasn't quite as long or loud as its debut.” Later the author states: “J1744-28 [the pulsar] doesn't play Mozart - or even Motorhead - but its beat appeals to scientists.” Astrophysicist Dr. Fred Lamb gave the star the nickname ‘one-man band’, because it does so many things at once. Lamb is quoted in the article: "We've seen some 10 sources that play the drums, some that crash cymbals, and a few that play the trumpet, but this source is a one-man band” (Dooling, 1998).
This series of examples illustrates both the consistence and diversity of musical metaphors in media meant for the dissemination of astronomy. The rest of this thesis will be devoted to explaining why this metaphorical trend has manifested itself in this context. The next chapter will provide a comprehensive overview of CMT, which provides a method to uncover notions that underlie the musical metaphors.
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Chapter 1: Conceptual Metaphor Theory
Metaphor theory had a breakthrough in 1980 when linguist George Lakoff and philosopher Mark Johnson published the book Metaphors We Live by. This book introduced Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). Before the publishing of this book, the study of metaphor was limited to the interpretations of poems and literature, and theory was limited to philosophical works about rhetoric, with little focus on the way metaphors were used in everyday conventional language. Metaphor also received little attention within the debate in linguistics on the existence of universals in language between the rationalists and empiricists. Lakoff and Johnson’s book provided a new perspective through which to study language. They showed how metaphors structure not only everyday conventional language, but also thought. They did this by identifying the conceptual metaphors underlying everyday language. Conceptual metaphors are the cognitive systems that linguistic metaphors arise from (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). An example of this is TIME IS MONEY. This conceptual metaphor is evident in common linguistic metaphors like “I don’t have enough time to spare” and “that flat tire cost me an hour” (ibid.: 8). Lakoff and Johnson were the first to identify and study conceptual metaphors. Before, metaphor had merely been studied in its linguistic form. In this thesis I will use the established conventions for the notation of linguistic metaphors (within quotations) and conceptual metaphors (written in small capitals). This conceptual metaphor paradigm has been embraced by many theorists of many different disciplines such as linguistics, cognitive linguistics, discourse studies, philosophy, psychology, history and literary studies. There is an abundance of literature through which the scope of this theory becomes evident. Many theorists have adopted the theory to study a wide range of topics like the rhetoric of politicians, the role of metaphor in advertisements, and the use of metaphors in media. Many theorists have also expanded this theory resulting in the development of many concepts, theories and approaches relating to conceptual metaphors. The scope of the paradigm is large, ranging from the mere identification of conceptual metaphors to research on how they are processed in the brain.
Linguistic form or conceptual metaphor 12
Due to the broad application of CMT among topics and disciplines, there has been a lack of consistent methodology amongst them. Cognitive linguist Gerard Steen criticizes this inconsistency and advocates for research that is methodologically responsible. He argues that there are various dimensions of metaphor that can be studied within language and that it is important to be explicit in distinguishing what the target of study is. This is because certain research questions will require a different target than others and this choice of target fundamentally influences the findings. One of the distinctions that needs to be made explicit according to Steen is whether the focus of the study will be on the linguistic form of a metaphor or the underlying conceptual metaphor (Steen, 2007: 3-4). The identification of conceptual metaphors can be useful to discover if an unconventional metaphor like a musical metaphor has a basis in thought. Perhaps this basis is far more conventional than a novel metaphor might seem to be at first glance. Conceptual metaphors also help to reveal connotations such as cultural values that linguistic metaphors reflect. For example, one culture may make excessive use of linguistic metaphors that are made on the basis of the conceptual metaphor TIME IS MONEY. It can be argued that this reveals a cultural idea that the efficient use of time is valuable and should be used wisely. Thus, for this thesis it is very useful to study the conceptual metaphor underlying the musical metaphors in the two case studies. If there is a similar conceptual metaphor underlying the metaphors in both case studies it will be worth questioning if this also is the basis of many of the other examples given in the introduction and perhaps the whole metaphorical trend (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980).
MIP and MIPVU
Steen and other metaphor theorists have also formulated other procedures and guidelines to help formalize and systematize metaphor research. I will elaborate on these procedures and how they can be useful to help uncover the conceptual metaphors of the musical metaphors in the two case studies. First of all, I will use aspects of the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) and its successor, MIPVU. This procedure serves the purpose of finding metaphors ‘in the wild’ as a way to collect data for research. MIP was developed in 2007 by a group of metaphor 13 theorists, which called themselves the Pragglejaz Group. MIP did not provide steps for the identification of every type of metaphor (such as similes), thus it was expanded upon to include these. This was done by Steen and a number of theorists from the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam and was called MIPVU (Steen et. al., 2010). The procedures involve familiarizing oneself with the entire text in which the metaphors are being identified. Then each lexical unit in the text is defined by its literal meaning and its contextual meaning. The lexical unit can be defined as metaphorical when:
1. the literal meaning contrasts with the contextual meaning. and 2. the contextual meaning can be understood through comparison with the literal meaning (Pragglejaz Group, 2007: 3).
MIPVU makes it possible to identify other types of metaphors like similes by identifying metaphor-related words such as the flags ‘as’ and ‘like’. After the identification of the metaphorical words, they can be classified as the source domain of the metaphor. This is the aspect within a metaphor that refers to something else. What follows is the identification of the target domain. The target domain is the concept to which is being referred. Sometimes the target domain can be found within or near the sentence that holds the source domain. MIPVU classifies this as having a direct meaning. If the target domain requires interpretation because it is absent from the actual context, then it can be classified as having an indirect meaning (Steen et. al., 2010: 32). The aim of MIP/MIPVU is to identify all metaphorical language in a text of which the use of the metaphorical language is unknown. Since I have chosen my case studies based on their use of specific metaphorical language (musical metaphors), not every aspect of the procedure is relevant for my analysis of them. It will however, be useful to dissect the metaphorical statements and determine the source and target domains. This will be useful to identify the conceptual metaphors of the musical metaphors.
Conventionalized grammar or specific situations of usage
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Another step that is useful to identify the type of a conceptual metaphor is determining whether the linguistic forms of the metaphors are examples of conventionalized grammar or examples of specific situations of usage. This is a step advocated by Gerard Steen in Finding Metaphor in Grammar and Usage (2007). This is useful due to the implications it has for the conceptual metaphor. The implication of a conventionalized grammar metaphor is that the conceptual metaphor underlying it is conventionalized and thus could signal a primary metaphor at its basis (more on primary metaphors to follow). If they are examples of usage, then the conceptual metaphors could either be conventional or unconventional (ibid.: 4). What is the difference between these two types of linguistic metaphors? Metaphors that are part of conventionalized grammar are cognitively entrenched and socio-culturally conventionalized. These metaphors are used in everyday speech like the metaphor “I am defending my argument”. In this metaphor, an argument is being treated as something physical that can be defended against something else. It is difficult to speak about arguments without reference to these kind of war terms (defend, attack, support). This means they are ‘cognitively entrenched’ in that they cannot easily be bypassed when speaking and thinking about arguing. This is because the difference between the metaphorical and non-metaphorical meaning of these statements is ambiguous. Another way to recognize these conventional grammar metaphors is when they can be found in institutionalized repositories like dictionaries (ibid.: 4-10). In contrast, when metaphors are specific situations of usage, they are, to some extent unique or novel. However, examples of usage can be commonly used figures of speech, like “She is a night owl”. This is not a cognitively entrenched metaphor and it is relatively more situated and more specific than examples of conventional grammar metaphors. It can be difficult to distinguish between grammar and usage since usage develops into grammar when it is used so excessively that it becomes conventional. Examples of usage also contain novel expressions of conventional grammar metaphors. The usage example that Steen gives of this is “A tsunami of people” as opposed to the conventionalized metaphor “A flood of people”. In fact, it can be difficult to find metaphors that do not have any basis in conventionalized grammar (ibid.: 4-10).
The questions that need to be asked are: 15
1) Are the musical metaphors examples of conventionalized grammar or specific situations of usage? 2) If they are examples of specific situations of usage, do they have a basis in conventionalized grammar? 3) If yes, what is the conventionalized metaphor?
Determining similarities
Many metaphor theorists argue that similarity can be found at the conceptual basis of metaphors and that determining the similarities that metaphors are based on is necessary for the identification of conceptual metaphors. However, Lakoff and Johnson argue in their publication Philosophy in the Flesh (1999) that the similarities that metaphors are based on, cannot be preexisting or objective, but merely perceived and thereby generated. For this reason, they argue that focusing on these similarities is not useful. Linguist Zolton Kövecses agrees with the presumption that the similarities are subjective and not preexisting, but argues that they are still relevant to study, because they reveal the motivation and experiential basis of the metaphors. A perceived similarity is in fact more interesting than the presence of a pre-existing similarity because it indicates how people think about the target of the metaphor. Kövecses claims that many metaphors are based on perceived structural similarities (Kövecses, 2002: 71). Once the similarities that underlie a metaphor are determined then the conceptual metaphor can be determined by fleshing out the mapping of the metaphor. A mapping is a set of metaphors that correspond with each other on the basis of the same similarities. These metaphors are also called entailments. Table 1 is an example of the mapping of the conceptual metaphor IDEAS ARE FOOD. This conceptual metaphor is based on perceived structural similarities.
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Table 1. Mapping IDEAS ARE FOOD Source domain Target domain
FOOD IDEA
cooking thinking
chewing considering
digesting understanding
(Kövecses, 2002: 73)
A mapping can also be made on the basis of the linguistic form of the metaphor in the case that the conceptual metaphor is not yet known. This can then be determined by adding source and target domains of entailments to the mapping, then identifying which source and target domains are the most salient of the other concepts. These overarching target and source domains are not necessarily used in the metaphorical statements and may have to be interpreted on the basis of the context (ibid.).
Primary and complex conceptual metaphors
There is another step that can be taken after the identification of the conceptual metaphor that can provide insight into the origins of the musical metaphors in the two case studies. This step entails identifying whether the conceptual metaphor is formed by one or more primary metaphors. A major development in CMT was the introduction of the theory that there are different levels of conceptual metaphors: primary and complex metaphors. This development was a reaction to a major theoretical and empirical upheaval that helped traditional CMT develop into contemporary CMT (Steen, 2010: 37). This reaction was led by the linguist Joe Grady (1997), who pointed out that not every possible linguistic version of a 17 conceptual metaphor is used in practice. For example, the linguistic metaphor “their theory collapsed” is derived from the conceptual metaphor THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS. A possible entailment of this conceptual metaphor is “theories have windows”. However, this is not used in practice. There are gaps in this mapping (Grady, 1997). This problem is solved by Grady’s concept of primary metaphors. Primary metaphors can be combined to form complex metaphors like THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS. This is comprised of the two primary metaphors: ORGANISATION IS PHYSICAL STRUCTURE and PERSISTING IS REMAINING ERECT. Lakoff and Johnson have accepted Grady’s analysis and have since identified twenty-four primary metaphors and argue that these are formed in the cognition of each individual due to the recurrent correlations between sensorimotor experience and the subjective judgment of this experience that are made in early childhood (Lakoff & Johnson: 1999). Other examples of primary metaphors are HAPPY IS UP, KNOWING IS SEEING and TIME IS MOTION (Steen, 2010: 37-41). Whether all metaphors are derived from this small set of universal primary metaphors is a subject of debate and further research in cognitive linguistics. Lakoff & Johnson argue that all metaphors are derived from primary metaphors. Steen does not agree and states that primary metaphors are not metaphors at all, but metonymies (figurative language based on contiguity as opposed to similarity) and that even they the break down at one point, because they do not always provide full mappings (Steen, 2007: 57, 40).
Discourse metaphors
In the paper “Discourse Metaphors” (2008), cognitive linguists, Jörg Zinken, Iina Hellsten and Brigitte Nerlich also argue against the idea that primary metaphors are universal and are at the basis of all linguistic and conceptual metaphors. They do not state that primary metaphors do not exist, but that not all metaphors are motivated by such simple mappings. They argue that what they call discourse metaphors cannot be explained in this way. Discourse metaphors are novel metaphors that are conventional within a certain discourse. Zinken and his colleagues state that these metaphors are formed through social-cultural processes rather than cognitively in early childhood like primary metaphors are said to be (Zinken, Hellsten and Nerlich, 2008: 364-366). In my analysis of the musical metaphors in 18 the case studies I will explore to what extent the conceptual metaphors I have identified are formed by primary metaphors or socio-cultural processes. In sum, the aspects of CMT that I use in this thesis are limited to the approaches, procedures and concepts I have explained in this chapter, despite the many other possibilities that CMT offers. I have identified these aspects of CMT to be useful for the purpose of answering my research question: why has the metaphorical trend of explaining astronomy in musical terms manifested itself in media meant for the dissemination of astronomy?
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Chapter 2: Cosmos case study
Description case study
The first case study I will analyze is episode 2 “One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue”, of the television program Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, in which music is used as an overarching metaphor for the whole episode. Cosmos is a 14 hour-mini series that aired on PBS in 1980, produced and narrated by Carl Sagan. Carl Sagan was an astronomer who became a public figure due to appearances on talk shows where he stirred the interest of viewers in astronomy. He became popular because “he was outspoken, charismatic, direct and assertive in a way that scientists generally were not (…)” (Head, 2006: xi). Cosmos was Sagan’s biggest project, costing over 8 million dollars and making it the most expensive television program of that time. The show was targeted for nonscientists and was an attempt to bridge the division between scientists and the general public (Lessl, 1985: 175-177). Each episode handles a variety of scientific topics from astronomy to exobiology. The show attempts to portray a holistic view of the universe and its history with the help of visual special effects that were groundbreaking for its time. Sagan produced and hosted the show. His charisma, passion and poetic scientific rhetoric contributed to Cosmos’ success. It became the highest-rated PBS series ever (Head 2006: xiii) and holds a nostalgic place in the hearts of many Americans that experienced the show’s first airing in 1980. Lessl argues in his article “Science and the Sacred Cosmos” that Carl Sagan switches between two personas as he narrates the series: Sagan the scientist and Sagan the cosmologist:
When Sagan the cosmologist speaks a different set of epistemic principles seem to be in force. Suddenly, through the subtle suggestiveness of metaphor, Sagan breathes life into the formerly dead machine universe, transforming it into a self- determining, purposive cosmos (…). The ambiguity of figurative speech allows Sagan the capacity to transgress the more rigid norms of scientific description. (Lessl, 1985: 181)
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Many parallels can be drawn between Sagan’s rhetoric and the rhetoric used in the TED talks of recent times. Now many respected scientists seem glad to participate in this rhetoric, however in 1967 Sagan was denied tenure at Harvard University due to this ‘pandering to the public’ (Morrison, 2007). Sagan’s metaphorical rhetoric becomes clear just from the chosen titles of each episode:
1. The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean 2. One voice in the Cosmic Fugue 3. Harmony of the Worlds 4. Heaven and Hell 5. Blues for a Red Blanet 6. Travellers’ Tales 7. The Backbone of Night 8. Journeys in Space and Time 9. The Lives of the Stars 10. The Edge of Forever 11. The Persistence of Memory 12. Encycolpaedia Galactica 13. Who Speaks for Earth (Sagan, 1980)
The show is built around the notion of a ‘personal voyage’ that Sagan embarks on. It uses a metaphorical spaceship in the form of a giant dandelion seed called the ‘spaceship of the imagination’. Carl Sagan travels around the universe in this ship showing us celestial bodies and other things that illustrate his narration (Head, 2006: xiii). Even though the show is structured around this metaphor, it isn’t central in most of the episodes. Rather, it lends itself to the formation of other metaphors since we are travelling through Carl Sagan’s imagination, which is constantly making connections and analogies throughout each episode. Three of the thirteen episode titles are related to music (episode two, three and five). In episode two, Sagan runs with the metaphor of a ‘cosmic fugue’ and also continues to draw upon it in the following episodes. Episode two, “One voice in the Cosmic Fugue” is the episode I will take a closer look at. It should be mentioned that this episode is not mainly about astronomy, but has its focus 21 on one of astronomies interdisciplinary fields called astrobiology. The episode deals with biological concepts and the theory of evolution. It is relevant for this study as these concepts are applied to the broader context of the cosmos with the help of the musical metaphor of the ‘cosmic fugue.’ This format is the premise of the whole series: Sagan advances the thesis that the whole cosmos can be perceived through a scientific perspective and that this is in harmony with nature itself (Lessl, 1985: 182). The episode starts with images of Sagan inside of the spaceship of the imagination looking out of the window at stars, earth, and beautiful gas clouds that pass as the spaceship flies by. This scene is accompanied by Sagan’s narration, which serves as an introduction to the episode. He starts by telling us about his personal interest in the idea of life on other planets. He asks the question: how common is life in the universe? He states, “The nature of life on earth and the quest for life elsewhere are two sides of the same question: the search for who we are” (1:34). He goes on to explain that the organic molecules that we are made of can be found throughout the universe. He also states that all life on our planet has a common organic chemistry and a common evolutionary heritage. This means that the biologists on earth can study only one biology. This is when the musical metaphor that the episode is based around is established. Carl Sagan calls the earths single biology “one lonely theme in the music of life. Is it the only voice for thousands of light-years or is there a cosmic fugue a billion different voices playing the life music of the galaxy?” (3:34, my emphasis). He continues to ask the questions that he plans to answer in the episode: how did life on our planet come about, how were organic molecules made, and how did life evolve? Then he tells a story that at first seems unrelated to any of these questions. “Let me tell you a story about one little phrase of the music of life on earth” (4:26, my emphasis).
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(Sagan, 1980: 1:30-3:00)
The story is a Japanese legend describing a battle of samurai warriors in the 12th century. The legend has led to a superstition in a small area in Japan that has caused its inhabitants to throw crabs with special markings on their back back into the sea when fishing. This resulted in artificial selection of these special crabs. The next segment is of Sagan strolling on the beach and among farm landscapes explaining artificial selection, natural selection and evolution. Sagan make the statement: “evolution is a fact not a theory. It really happened” (15:00). This was a daring thing to say considering the criticism Sagan received from colleagues for not following scientific conventions. Stating something so absolute was frowned upon. He does address the controversy of the theory, which according to him stemmed from people’s tendency to ascribe the intricacy, and beauty of nature to a great designer. “The idea of a designer was appealing; an altogether human explanation of the biological world. But as Darwin and Wallace showed, there’s another way; equally human and far more compelling. Natural 23 selection, which makes the music of life more beautiful as the eons pass” (16:50, my emphasis). In the next portion of the episode Sagan explains how life originated on earth and how it evolved into humans and other species that live on earth today. This is explained in the context of the history of the universe: the cosmic calendar. This is accompanied by visuals of extinct species, the cosmic timeline and Sagan walking around a moon-type planet which is meant to be primitive earth. He continues to explain biological concepts like cells, mutations and DNA. He emphasizes the common ancestry of all living things on earth. We are all descended from a single and common instance of the origin of life in the early days of our planets. The following segment shows a scientist executing an experiment that reproduces the atmosphere of earth four billion years ago within a reaction vessel to see if molecules would form on their own. The gasses are sparked with electricity like earth’s atmosphere was with lightning. After a few hours, molecules have formed within the vessel, including the building blocks of the proteins and the nucleic acids that are essential to the formation of life. Sagan speculates on how some kind of similar reaction could have happened on other planets in the universe and how it could result in very different kind of creatures. He speculates about what form other life might take on, on planets entirely different from our own. These speculations are accompanied by visuals of celestial bodies and drawings of strange creatures on hypothetical gas planets. He speaks of the importance of the search for extraterrestrial life. It would de-provincialize biology and let us know if there are other forms of molecular chemistry that can form life.
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(Sagan, 1980: 54:20)
The last sentence of the episode brings back the musical metaphor for the last time: “We've heard so far the voice of life on only a single world, but for the first time, as we shall see we've begun a serious scientific search for the cosmic fugue” (56:28, my emphasis).
Analysis Cosmos case study
The analysis of the musical metaphors of Episode 2 of Cosmos will consist of the steps described in chapter 1. I will identify the source and target domains of the metaphors. This involved determining the similarities that the metaphors are based on. I will then determine if they are example of conventionalized grammar or specific situations of usage. These steps will help identify what the conceptual metaphor is, which will follow. Then I will discuss to what extent the conceptual metaphor is a complex metaphor made up of one or more primary metaphors.
Identifying source and target domains 25
Episode 2 of Cosmos contains four statements with musical metaphors. These are marked in italics in the description of the episode. Two of these metaphors are complementary to a overarching metaphor that is stated at the beginning of the episode and reiterated and expanded at the end. I will analyze these two statements:
1) “They study a single biology, one lonely theme in the music of life. Is it the only voice for thousands of light-years or is there a cosmic fugue, a billion different voices playing the life music of the galaxy?” (5:00). 2) “We've heard so far the voice of life on only a single world, but for the first time, as we shall see, we've begun a serious scientific search for the cosmic fugue” (56:28).
Above, the metaphorically used musical words in each statement are marked in italics. To understand this metaphor, it is important to know what the structure of a fugue is. A fugue is a piece of music composed in a very ordered manner. It contains two or more voices that build on a theme. “Voice” in this context refers to a melody played by an individual instrument or sung by a person. In this context voice seems like a metaphor for melody; however, it isn’t since this is the technical term in music theory. A theme within a fugue is a melody upon which the whole composition is based. The theme is often introduced at the beginning and it is repeated many times in the composition at different pitches. The theme transforms throughout the piece. To be clear, ‘voice’ refers to the (transformed) melodies that are being played or sung and the theme refers to the overarching melody of the piece. A fugue usually has one theme and multiple voices (Benward, 2003). In the following table the target domains of the metaphorically used musical words are identified. The word ‘theme’ and ‘voice’ are used interchangeably in the statements as if they were the same thing. I have therefore interpreted that they have the same target domain.
Table 2. First mapping musical metaphor Cosmos case study Source domain Target domain 26
A. a theme a biology
B. a voice a biology
C. a fugue an ordered set of biologies
D. music all sets of biologies
This table does not provide a full understanding of the metaphor. This is because the word ‘biology’ is used as a metonymy. A metonymy is a form of figurative speech based on a contiguity instead of a similarity (Steen, 2007: 57). When Carl Sagan states that biologists study one single biology he means that they can only study the life that is on earth. He used the word ‘biology’ as a stand in for ‘life form’, meaning all life forms specific to one planet that differs from life forms of other planets. Based on this, the target domains become the following.
Table 3. Second mapping musical metaphor Cosmos case study Source domain Target domain
A. a theme a life form
B. a voice a life form
C. a fugue an ordered set of multiple life forms D. music all life forms
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It becomes clear why MIP and MIPVU require that full familiarity should be gained of the context of the metaphors being studied. This is necessary to uncover the metaphorical words that have an indirect meaning. The target domains of A and B have a direct meaning and are simply identified since the target domain can be found within the statement. C and D however, have an indirect meaning and require more interpretation. I have determined these by identifying the similarity that the metaphor is based on. Like many metaphors, these are made on the basis of a perceived structural similarity between a fugue and what Carl Sagan believed to be extraterrestrial life found around the universe. Since ‘one lonely theme’ and ‘the only voice’ refer to a life form specific to one planet, then according to the structure of a fugue, a ‘cosmic fugue’ is a set of life forms that are repetitions and mutations of each other. Since a fugue has many voices that are different versions of each other, it can be argued that Sagan suspects that there is life in the universe that is similar to ours, perhaps made up of the same building blocks, yet different. This type of life is transformed like a theme within a fugue, because it evolved differently due to its non-earth circumstances. It adapted to the environment of its own planet. Sagan also refers to the ‘scientific search for the cosmic fugue’. With this he means the search for extraterrestrial life. The structural relationship between a fugue and the overarching phenomena of music helps to identify the target domains of ‘music of life’ and ‘life music of the galaxy’. A fugue is a type of composition of music, while music is the overarching term for all compositions, styles, genres, and musical units (i.e. organized sound). If a fugue represents a set of related life forms, then music represents all life forms. This also becomes evident in the use of the word ‘life’ in ‘life music’ and ‘music of life’.
Grammar or usage?
Both statement 1) and 2) are examples of specific situations of usage. The comparison of life to a voice or theme within a fugue is not cognitively entrenched and cannot be found in institutionalized repositories like dictionaries. Neither is the comparison of a fugue with a set of extraterrestrial life. Also, referring to the the search for life on other planets as a search for the cosmic fugue is very unique. None of these specific metaphors have a basis in conventionalized grammar. There is no deduction or obvious modification of these 28 metaphors that would line up with metaphors used in conventionalized grammar. This means that the conceptual metaphor to be identified below, can be either conventional or unconventional.
Identifying the conceptual metaphor
To help identify the conceptual metaphors, I have added entailments to the mapping that are derived from the original metaphors. Mappings E-I are entailments that utilize the same structural similarities between the target and source domains of A-D.
Table 4. Expanded metaphorical mapping Cosmos case study Source domain Target domain
A. a theme a life form
B. a voice a life form
C. a fugue an ordered set of multiple life forms D. music all life E. notes building blocks of life
F. composing big bang
G. modulation mutation
H. concert hall galaxy
I. concert building cosmos
The conceptual metaphor can be determined by identifying the source and target domains that are overarching of the other concepts. These overarching target and source domains are not necessarily used in the metaphorical statements and may have to interpreted. In 29 this case the two overarching concepts are ‘music’ and ‘life’ making the conceptual metaphor: LIFE IS MUSIC. To be clear, LIFE in this case does not refer to a person’s temporary existence (e.g. a person’s life), but to life forms (e.g. life on other planets). Now that we have identified the conceptual metaphor it is useful to determine whether it is based on one or more primary conceptual metaphors. As explained in chapter 1, this would mean that these conceptual ideas are formed based on universal predispositions in humans to correlate sensori-motor experiences with subjective judgment (e.g. HAPPY IS UP) (Steen, 2010: 40). From the list of primary metaphors that Lakoff and Johnson have identified based on Hardy’s expansion of CMT, there do not seem to be any primary metaphors from which LIFE IS MUSIC could be deducted. One that comes close is ORGANIZATION IS PHYSICAL STRUCTURE, for it provides a way to understand abstractly organized concepts in terms of a concrete physical structure. However, the source domain MUSIC is not concrete in the same way. Music may be structurally organized but it is also ineffable and intangible. Music is however a conventional part of human experience that people have an understanding of. This is why, despite music’s abstractness, this conceptual metaphor works (Lakoff & Jonson, 1999: 51). The identification of the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS MUSIC is valuable as it ascribes quite a significant meaning to music, extraterrestrial life in the universe and humanities’ place in it. It implies that there is something aesthetically pleasing about our existence and how it relates to other forms of life in the universe. Life seems to be structured beautifully throughout the universe. It will be interesting to see if the string theory metaphor will have a similarly significant conceptual metaphor as this could imply a similar conceptual origin of the musical metaphors used in science dissemination.
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Chapter 3: Case Study String Theory
Description case study
This case study entails a commonly used explanation of string theory. String theory is the theory that has attempted to unify the theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity. It is a theory that ultimately might be able to explain movements of celestial objects in space and solve the mystery of dark matter. The theory states that sub-nuclear particles are strings rather than point-like particles. These strings are said to be massless and vibrate at extremely high velocities. The different vibration speeds, determine the type of sub-nuclear particles that are constructed (Kaku and Thompson, 1987). The musical metaphor used to explain this theory compares the theorized strings in elementary particles to strings on stringed instruments (guitar, violin etc.). The musical string vibrates in different ways depending on its length and on how it’s plucked. It can vibrate with one one or more loops along its length. The amount of loops on the string determine the tone that is played. Similarly, the amount of loops on the string of a sub- nuclear particle determine what kind of particle it is and what kind of electromagnetic interaction it produces. The strings are massless yet detectable through their tension. The greater the tension, the greater the mass. Similarly, the greater the tension of a guitar string, the greater the frequency of the tone (Pesic & Volmar, 2015: 3). When searching for ‘What is string theory?’ on Google, many of the search results make use of the metaphor in one variation or another. After the dry Wikipedia definition, the first result is The Official String Theory Web Site (Schwarz, 2016), where the metaphor can be found. It is also used in the first TED talk given when searching the TED database, “Making sense of String Theory” by Brian Greene. In fact, it is used in about half a dozen TED talks, not to mention in many educational videos on YouTube. Brian Greene also uses the metaphor in his book The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (2010), which is the number one best seller in Mathematical Physics books for a wider audience, according to Amazon.com. It is clear that scientists have consistently turned to this metaphor for clarification of this very abstract concept that 31 predicts invisible, massless strings. This certainly has to do with the overlap of the word ‘string’, but the metaphor goes farther than this initial overlap. Musicologists Axel Volmar and Peter Pesic track the history of this metaphor and find that it was not used in the works of the scientists who originally formulated the theory in 1968. This may have had to do with scientific conventions that do not accept non- rhetorical language in science communication aimed towards peers. This caused Sagan his tenure at Harvard after all. The metaphor was first used in Search for a Supertheory: From Atoms to Superstrings (Parker, 1987), one of the first popular books attempting to introduce the theory to a wider audience. In this paper, the extent of the metaphor was limited to an explanation of the workings of the sub-nuclear particle string. Later string theorist, Michio Kaku and journalist, Julia Thompson (1987) expanded the metaphor in Beyond Einstein: Superstrings and the Quest for the Final Theory in which they used the physics of musical tones as a model through which to understand the whole universe. String theory, for them, was a unified theory of everything including music (Pesic & Volmar, 2015: 4). The following passage that introduces the metaphor that is used throughout the book will be the target object of my analysis:
The superstring theory can produce a coherent and all-inclusive picture of nature similar to the way a violin string can be used to unite all the musical tones and rules of harmony. Historically, the laws of music were formulated only after thousands of years of trial-and-error investigation of different musical sounds. Today, these diverse rules can be derived easily from a single picture that is a string that can resonate with different frequencies, each one creating a separate tone of the musical scale. The tones created by the vibrating string, such as C or B flat, are not in themselves any more fundamental than any other tone. What is fundamental, however, is the fact that a single concept, vibrating strings, can explain the laws of harmony. Knowing the physics of a violin string, therefore, gives us a comprehensive theory of musical tones and allows us to predict new harmonies and chords. Similarly, in the superstring theory, the fundamental forces and various particles found in nature are nothing 32
more than different modes of vibrating strings. The gravitational interaction, for example, is caused by the lowest vibratory mode of a circular string (a loop). Higher excitations of the string create different forms of matter. From the point of view of the superstring theory, no force or particle is more fundamental than any other. All particles are just different vibratory resonances of vibrating strings. Thus, a single frame work -the superstring theory- can in principle explain why the universe is populated with such a rich diversity of particles and atoms. (Kaku and Thompson, 1987: 5)
It is interesting to see how string theory is so extremely hinged on the musical metaphor in this passage. It is difficult to conceptualize how sub-nuclear particles work in reality separate from the metaphor.
Analysis String Theory case study
Identifying source and target domains
The passage from Beyond Einstein: The cosmic quest for the theory of the universe (1987) contains a different kind of musical metaphor. Namely, two sets of similes. These are directly expressed metaphorical comparisons. The MIP was not made for identifying the metaphorical meaning in similes but only for identifying the indirect metaphorically used words. However, “MIPVU has extended MIP to be able to take these other manifestations of metaphor in discourse on board” (Steen et. al., 2010: 94). This involves identifying the ‘Metaphor-Related Words’ of the type ‘flag’ (for example ‘like’ and ‘as’) in order to determine what the source and target domains are of the metaphor. Steen and his colleagues argue that, when analyzing similes, it is important that a literal simile is not mistaken for a metaphorical simile. A literal simile is not a metaphor because the source and target domain are almost identical and the comparison is on the basis of very concrete similarities. A metaphorical simile creates a cross-domain mapping (ibid.: 38-39, 93-94). The comparison of a violin string and a sub-nuclear particle string is 33 semi-literal due to the fact that they are both ‘vibrating strings’ (their difference is mainly found in their visibility and the extent that they can be perceived). I would like to argue that this semi-literal simile is the jumping off point that produces a number of similes that are actually clearly metaphorical. The following identification of source and target domains will clarify more extensively the examples of metaphorical similes. The two set of similes are the following:
1) “The superstring theory can produce a coherent and all-inclusive picture of nature similar to the way a violin string can be used to unite all the musical tones and rules of harmony”.
2) “Knowing the physics of a violin string, therefore, gives us a comprehensive theory of musical tones and allows us to predict new harmonies and chords. Similarly, in the superstring theory, the fundamental forces and various particles found in nature are nothing more than different modes of vibrating strings” (Kaku and Thompson, 1987: 5).
The description of the physics of harmony between the two similes is not metaphorical, but serves as an elaboration on the similes. This is important context for determining the source and target domains. Instead of the commonly used flags, ‘as’ and ‘like’, even more explicit words are used to indicate the simile, namely ‘similar to’ and ‘similarly’. These flags are marked in bold. The target domains and the source domains are separated by the flag. The source and target domain can be found in the tables below:
Table 5. Mapping Simile 1 String Theory case study Source domain Target domain L. [the physics that dictate] a superstring theory violin string M. rules of harmony all-inclusive picture of nature
Table 6. 34
Mapping Simile 2 String Theory case study Source domain Target domain N. modes musical tones O. violin string sub nuclear particle strings P. new harmonies/chords fundamental forces
The perceived similarities between the source and target domains are also based on structural similarities. The structural similarity between a violin string and the sub nuclear particle string is the starting off point that motivates the other metaphors. The other similes are entailments of this semi-literal simile. The similes are constructed rather poorly, making it difficult to interpret exactly which musical words correspond with which string theory terms. For example, the term ‘the way a violin can be used’ doesn’t make sense. Based on the context, what is meant is ‘the physics that dictate a violin string’ (L). This follows from the starting point that compares the sub nuclear strings with violin strings (O). Plucking a violin strings produces musical tones (N). Along with other tones they form new harmonies and chords (P) and the particles produce modes that together form the fundamental forces like gravity and dark energy. It seems that the fact that the sub-nuclear particles were conceptualized as vibrating strings was a pleasant coincidence due to the way it was applicable to instrumental strings. The shared structural elements of these domains seems to be a desirable quality. This metaphor certainly makes it easier to conceptualize string theory, however, its extensive use over the years and the way it has been applied so broadly indicates a greater purpose. Identifying the conceptual metaphor may help to uncover the greater purpose that music has in this context.
Grammar or usage?
The string theory metaphor is also an example of usage. However, it is certainly more conventional than the Cosmos examples. This metaphor is to some extent institutionalized since many scientists draw upon it in their explanation of the theory. String theory is also difficult to explain without the use of this metaphor however, I would not state that it is 35 fully cognitively entrenched since string theory is not something that is dealt with on a day to day basis by those unfamiliar with the field of astronomy. This metaphor is a perfect example of a discourse metaphor. As previously explained, discourse metaphors are conventionalized only within a certain context. In this case the metaphor is conventional within the context of astronomy. The fact that this metaphor is a discourse metaphor indicates an unconventional conceptual metaphor. This is due to the unconventional nature of their targets (Zinken, Hellsten and Nerlich, 2008: 364).
Identifying the conceptual metaphor
An expanded metaphorical mapping of the similes in the String Theory case study can be made based on the structural similarities that are ascribed to both source and target domains that have been previously determined.
Table 7. Expanded metaphorical mapping String Theory case study: Source domain Target domain L. harmony superstring theory M. notes Sub nuclear particles N. violin string sub nuclear particle strings O. chords fundamental forces P. music matter Q. theory of music theory of nature
Here I have simplified the original mappings and added entailments. It is difficult to determine more entailments due to the abstract nature of string theory and my limited understanding of it as a student of the humanities. My understanding of the structural attributes of string theory are based foremost on the metaphor itself. The expansion of the metaphors in the Cosmos case study were easily made due to the relatively simple structure of a set of different life forms in the cosmos in relation to earth’s single form of life. 36
Therefore, I determined the entailments P and Q based on other statements in the book that build upon the similes that first introduce the metaphor. The overarching conceptual metaphor seems to be MATTER IS MUSIC or rather MATTER IS MUSICAL. This could even be interpreted to be EVERYTHING IS MUSICAL based on how string theory (theory on how matter is produced by string like particles) is also called the “theory of everything” throughout the book. This in itself could be interpreted as a conceptual metaphor (STRING THEORY IS THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING or EVERYTHING IS MATTER since string theory is the theory on matter). To avoid placing a metaphor within a metaphor, I will identify the conceptual metaphor to be MATTER IS MUSICAL. This conceptual metaphor also cannot be derived from any primary metaphors due to the unconventionality of the target (ibid.). It can be characterized as an unconventional conceptual metaphor.
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Chapter 4: Comparison case studies
Summary
I will shortly summarize the data gathered from the analysis above. First of all, the musical metaphors in both case studies are based on perceived structural similarities between the source and target domains. I have identified the musical metaphors in the Cosmos case study to be specific examples of usage. This implied that the conceptual metaphor could be either conventional or unconventional. I have identified the conceptual metaphor to be LIFE IS MUSIC. This is unconventional and does not seem to have any basis in primary metaphors and is therefore not a derivative of any universal cognitive dispositions formed in early childhood. The musical metaphor in the String Theory case study is conventionalized within the context of astronomy, which makes it a discourse metaphor. Discourse metaphors are per definition not based in primary metaphors. Instead they have a cultural component (Zinken et. al., 2008). The conceptual metaphor of the String Theory case study is MATTER IS MUSICAL. This could also have been interpreted as EVERYTHING IS MUSICAL since string theory is a theory on matter or the ‘theory of everything’. Both of these conceptual metaphors are not as trivial as other conceptual metaphors like THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS. They seem to hold more weight due to their reference to such overarching concepts as life and matter/everything.
Comparison
Since these case studies do not share their conceptual metaphors, it cannot be concluded that these musical metaphors in this context are made on the basis of the same underlying thought or idea. The only correspondence between the musical metaphors in the two case studies is that they are both based on perceived structural similarities. Perhaps it can be argued that all musical metaphors made in the context of astronomy are made on the basis of perceived structural similarities. This, however, does not reveal why there is a tendency consistently to draw upon the source domain of music as opposed to another source 38 domain that shares the same structural similarities. For example, Sagan could have compared earth’s single biology to one seed within a flower in the cosmic garden. It is more obvious why a vibrating violin string seemed to be the only sufficient comparison for the vibrating strings of string theory. This is due to the semi-literal comparison of instrumental strings to sub nuclear particle strings. However, I argue that the extensive use of this metaphor and the way it has been applied so broadly indicates a greater function of this metaphor than merely acting as a pedagogical aid for understanding this difficult concept. It seems that the comparison with music is meant to do something more than explain string theory. What can be concluded from this analysis, is not that there is a consistent conceptual metaphor that governs all musical metaphors in astronomy dissemination, but that the use of music in these metaphors serves a greater purpose than acting as an analogical aid. The weighty conceptual metaphors that govern the musical metaphors have implications for how music is conceptualized. Music seems to hold a quality that makes it most suitable to draw upon in the context of astronomy dissemination. We have yet to discover why this metaphorical trend has manifested itself. I argue that to answer this question the metaphorical trend needs to be approached as a discourse metaphor. The metaphorical trend of musical metaphors in astronomy dissemination shares many characteristics with the concept of a discourse metaphor and approaching it as one will help to uncover why this metaphor has manifested itself. Furthermore, it will help uncover what quality is being ascribed to music by these musical metaphors.
Discourse Metaphor Approach
A discourse metaphor is a metaphor with a specific source and target domain that is conventional within a certain discourse. An example of this is the metaphor that was prominent in the 1990s, GENTICALLY MODIFIED FOODS ARE FRANKENFOODS. The musical metaphor trend does not fit this description since there is not a specific source and target domain being used, but rather source domains that belong to the general field of music and target domains that belong to the general field of astronomy. I argue that this trend or tendency shares many characteristics with the concept of a discourse metaphors even though it does not fully fit that description. Applying the theories of the evolution of 39 discourse metaphors will serve useful to identify the origins of the metaphorical trend and uncover its implications for music. The different characteristics of these kind of metaphors are formulated by cognitive linguists, Zinken, Hellsten and Nerlich in their paper “Discourse Metaphors” (2008). As discussed in Chapter Two, Zinken and his colleagues criticize the way CMT is predominantly interested in universal aspects of metaphor and the idea that all metaphors are derived from primary metaphors. The primary metaphor theory only focuses on how culture and language is influenced by primary metaphors rather than how culture plays a role in their formation. This also negates any study into the cultural situatedness of metaphors. This however, is essential to the study of discourse metaphors. Zinken and his colleagues claim that that discourse metaphors are not motivated by the simple mappings of primary metaphors, but that they are formed as a result of socio-cultural processes. The following characteristics that Zinken and his colleagues ascribe to discourse metaphors are also applicable to the metaphorical trend:
1) They are unconventional in everyday grammar, but conventional within a specific context (ibid.: 374). The list of examples I have given in the introduction has established that this metaphorical trend is conventional within the context of media for the dissemination of astronomy. The fact that they are bound to this very specific context makes them unconventional in everyday language. 2) They do not have a basis in primary metaphors. This is due to the unconventional nature of the target domains (ibid.: 362-364) 3) They can resonate over long periods of time and topics. “Individuals encounter them in discourse, take them up, modify or reject them. They become part of situated discursive and narrative practices” (ibid.: 376). The fact that the metaphorical trend was evident in the 1980s astronomy series Cosmos and in TED talks of recent days attest to the application of this characteristic. Also the different varieties and forms the metaphors take on show how they resonate accross many topics. 4) The source domains are basic level categories that use rich images of salient cultural objects as opposed to the abstract source domains of primary conceptual metaphors like in KNOWING IS SEEING (ibid.: 377). The target domain is often a new concept 40
while the source domain is much older (ibid.: 368). In this metaphorical trend new astronomical concepts are compared to the salient cultural object, music.
Even though the concept of discourse metaphors refers to metaphors with a specific source domain and a specific target domain, the fact that the above named characteristics are applicable to the very general metaphorical trend that I have described makes it useful to approach it as such. As mentioned above, Zinken and his colleagues argue that discourse metaphors form through socio-cultural processes. The factors that influence these socio- cultural process are social memory, social preoccupations and entrenched cultural values of the time. This includes current and past events, traditions, events and myths that are (still) present in the social memory of a society. There is a relevant history that could have influenced the manifestation of the musical metaphor trend in astronomy dissemination. This is the history of the theory of the so- called Harmony of the Spheres. This is a theory established in 6th century BC by the Greek philosopher, Pythagoras which intertwined the study of music and astronomy (Heller- Roazen, 2011). In the following chapter, I would like explore the history of this theory to see to what extent this history has permeated into contemporary culture and could have influenced the manifestation of the metaphorical trend. I will also discuss the motivations and ideas behind the Harmony of the Spheres in order to see if it draws upon music in a similar way as the musical metaphors in astronomy dissemination.
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Chapter 5: Harmony of the Spheres
From classical antiquity onward, the study of astronomy and music was not separate, but considered to be one unified study together with arithmetic. The origin of this link began with Pythagoras’ theory of the Harmony of the Spheres. In this chapter, I will discuss the details of this theory to see whether it has aspects that correspond with the musical metaphors used in astronomy dissemination. I will also discuss the theory’s historical development. From this overview of Harmony of the Spheres, I will draw conclusions about whether this theory is present in society’s social memory and its possible influence on the development of the metaphorical trend of musical metaphors in astronomy dissemination.
Origins of Harmony of the Spheres
The theory of the Harmony of the Spheres has a long history beginning with Pythagoras in 6th century BC. Pythagoras left no writings, but showed his followers his “vision of the universe” through is oral teachings (Kassler, 1982: 104). The central idea of this vision is that the cosmos is ordered by numbers. Pythagoras found ‘proof’ of this in musical harmonics. A number of books describe how Pythagoras made this discovery and how his teachings were interpreted and expanded upon by his followers over the course of 2000 years. The literature at that the source of the arguments in this section are The Fifth Hammer (Heller- Roazen, 2011), Harmonies of Heaven and Earth (Godwin, 1987), Philolaus of Croton (Huffman, 1993) and The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (Kenneth et. al., 1987). According to legend, Pythagoras was inspired to make his discovery by happening upon a pleasurable sound coming from a nearby forge. The source of this sound was the striking of five hammers. Pythagoras’ experience of walking into the forge is described as being driven by a divine will. The hammers all emitted different tones that together formed a single consonance (a combination of complementing sounds). Pythagoras discovered that this consonance was caused by the relations between the masses of the hammers. The relations between the hammers’ masses can be illustrated with the ratios between the numbers twelve, nine, eight and six. These ratios could be reduced to the ratios 1:2, 4:3 and 3:2. These ratios were considered by Pythagoras to be perfect ratios, because they were 42 made up of the first four numbers and showed the balance between order and chaos (odd numbers were considered to be ordered and even numbers were considered to be chaotic). Pythagoras took his discovery to be significant and continued his research on string instruments and discovered that different string lengths with the same perfect ratios as the different weights of the hammers resulted in the same three pleasurable (consonant) intervals (Heller-Roazen, 2011: 12- 13). These intervals are the octave, the perfect fifth and the perfect fourth (ibid.: 20). This discovery was seen to be proof of Pythagoras’ philosophy: that the cosmos was ordered by numbers, or rather numerical proportions. In this way, the cosmos was in harmony. Here, harmony means that there is a perfect balance between chaos and order in the entire natural world which included musical harmony and celestial bodies. Pythagoras applied these numerical proportions to the distances of the planets. And so the theory of the Harmony of the Spheres arose (Kenneth et al, 1987: 28). The Harmony of the Spheres states that the ratios of the consonant intervals correspond with the ratios of the celestial spheres. The celestial spheres each contain either a planet, the sun, the moon or the stars resulting in eight spheres (not including the stationary earth’s central sphere). Beyond the outer most sphere, one would find God. The ratios of the celestial spheres were made up of the relative distances between them (Godwin, 1987: 125). Pythagoras nor his followers had any sophisticated scientific means to measure these distances, but with the use of basic astronomical observations it was assumed that the ratios corresponded. The theory also states that the spheres circle the earth at different speeds and the movements of each sphere emits a different tone forming a scale. The people of earth are unaware of this sound, because it is with them right from birth. It is not heard through the ear, but felt in the soul (Guthrie, 1939: 195-197). The consonant intervals are said to be consonant, because of their correspondence with these tones emitted by the planets (Huffman, 1993: 280). As music changed stylistically in ancient Greece, it became difficult for Pythagoras’ followers to argue that all consonant intervals were in accordance with the perfect ratios. This is due to the use of the intervals of the major third, minor third, major sixth and minor sixth in music. These intervals came to be considered aesthetically pleasing. Pythagoreans failed to sufficiently account for these stylistic changes with Pythagoras’ teachings. Renaissance music theorist Zarlino, who found a numerically ordered cosmos to be desirable, finally sufficiently expanded Pythagoras’ theory to account for these intervals. He 43 found that these intervals could not be expressed in arithmetical form with the first four numbers, as Pythagoras had shown. Zarlino held on to the idea numbers held the truth to how the natural world was ordered, but let go of the idea that all consonant intervals could be reduced to the lengths of strings (Heller-Roazen, 2011: 61-62). Zarlino stated that the intervals could be justified as harmonious by expanding the numbers of arithmetical transcription from 4 to 6. This way the 4 new consonant intervals could be reduced to the relations 5:4 (major third), 6:5 (minor third), 5:3 (major sixth), and the double of 4:5 (minor sixth). He justified this expansion to the number six, because to him, six was harmonious for multiple reasons. First of all, astronomy at the time was familiar with six planets: the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars Jupiter and Saturn. Also six circles mark the heavens: Arctic, Antarctic, the Tropic of Cancer, the Tropic of Capricorn, the Equinoctial and the Equinox. Ancient philosophy has six natural offices: size, color, shape, interval, state and motion. Lastly, in mathematics, six lines define the triangular pyramid and a cube has six sides. Zarlino also considered the number six to be a perfect multitude because 1 x 2 x 3 = 1 + 2 + 3. To Zarlino, these factors were proof of the harmoniousness of the number six. This gave him enough reason to accept the presence of the number six in music (ibid.: 62-63). It is interesting to note the way the theory of the perfect ratios was adjusted to accommodate a change in musical aesthetics. Naturally, the “measured” distances of the celestial spheres were also adjusted to corresponded with the new perfect ratios. The idea that numerical ratios underlie the cosmos was not dependent on music’s correspondence with these ratios, and yet the whole theory was adjusted to include musical harmonics. Something about music made it the most suitable and desirable source of proof of a secret key to the universe. Zarlino, Pythagoras and his followers wanted music on their side.
The Scientific Revolution
The end of the sixteenth century brought with it the end of the literal link between the discourse of music and astronomy. This can be attributed to three factors: 1) Vincenzo Galilei’s discovery; 2) a change in musical aesthetics; 3) the scientific revolution. Zarlino’s student Vincenzo Galilei was one of the first to dispute a number of assumptions that were thought to be truths by Pythagoras and his followers. He stated that 44 there are some false assumptions about the relations of number to sound that had been upheld since the 6th century BC when Pythagoras introduced the theory. One of the false assumptions was that specific ratios consistently reproduced specific intervals. This was only the case for the length of strings. Two strings that produce the ratio 2:1 in length produce an octave, but two bells that form the ratio 2:1 in mass do not produce an octave. For mass to produce an octave the relations must be 4:1. “[T]he harmonic proportions derived from strings must be squared for them to hold for mass” (Heller-Roazen, 2011: 67). Galilei showed that consonances were not governed by the ideal ratios, but actually by ratios dependent on the material from which the consonances came forth. Galilei had disproven the one basic axiom of Pythagorean harmonics: (…) ‘Two to one’, ‘three to two’ and ‘four to three’ no longer named ideal relations, perceptible in this world despite its constant flux of generations and corruptions. Such expressions would henceforth be the signs of measurements, whose sense depended on the various types of bodies to which they were referred. (ibid.: 68) This had huge implications for the theory of the Harmony of the Spheres. The theory was hinged on the idea that there was sameness and consistency across all phenomena and this discovery invalidated that notion. Instead of searching for other phenomena that might uphold this theory, it was abandoned. Without numbers linking the music with the rest of the natural world, the theory seemed to have lost its credibility. As the theory lost its credence among astronomers, musical practice continued to develop in complete disregard to whatever extent it lined up with numerical notions. At the start of the seventeenth century music started to become systematized and structured. Musical notation and instruments became standardized (Turley, 2001: 634). At this point, other tuning methods were also being developed and used. Pythagorean tuning1 was no longer the most common. Meantone tuning was being used more and more (much later this would be replaced by equal temperament tuning). This can be explained by the fact that Pythagorean tunings no longer corresponded with what was considered to be aesthetically pleasing at that time. The perfect fifth was and still is considered to be one of the most consonant intervals, but when producing a scale according to Pythagorean tuning, with the
1 Tuning based on the perfect ratios that Pythagoras discovered. The scale is generated with the perfect fifth as it’s base (3:2). 45 perfect fifth as a generator, other tones no longer sound consonant. The major third sounds especially out of tune when produced in this way. This would not do, since composers of this period were particularly partial to this sweet sounding interval (Fletcher ed., 1998: 567). This development is striking because it shows that there wasn’t a generally accepted standard in what was considered to be consonant and harmonious let alone in what aligned with perfect numerical ratios. Harmony, in the musical sense of the word, changed. In the context of the Western musical tradition, harmony became a set of rules that were subject to change according to what was pleasurable to the ears of the people of that time. None of these developments had aligned with the neat and organized picture of the cosmos as theorized by Pythagoras. These developments were part of a broader shift in mentality in the sixteenth and seventeenth century labeled as the Scientific Revolution, which is said to be when modern science arose. This paradigm shift was characterized by a change in scientific thought and practice. This involved a separation between religion, philosophy and science. Science was to be based on human reason and rationality rather than revelation and theology. This influenced the way science was practiced and how findings were interpreted. Findings were not manipulated to fit into preconceived notions of how the universe was structured and experiments were driven by empirical observation as opposed to feeling. This was different from Pythagoras’ methods, which only involved seeking out phenomena that fit in with his philosophy of a numerically ordered universe. One of the main discoveries that was possible due to this shift in mentality was that the earth was not the center of the celestial spheres, but that the earth was moving around the sun instead. Vincenzo Galilei’s son, Galileo was of course, one of the first major advocates for this theory. This discovery was made possible by his invention of the telescope which also made it possible to measure planetary distances relatively accurately. This also proved that the planetary distances did not line up with perfect ratios (Cohen, 1984: 7-11). For astronomy, the scientific revolution did not only result in the heliocentric theory, but also in a new vision of the universe as something homogenous. In this universe, no number or ratio “in itself would be identifiable with a being (Heller-Roazen, 2011: 69). This means that celestial objects were not to be hierarchically symbolized by specific numbers or ratios as theorized by the Harmony of the Spheres. In this theory, numbers were used in a qualitative manner to define the essences of the planets. The paradigm shift of the scientific 46 revolution caused a new quantitative approach to the universe resulting in the emergence of the concept of number as a symbol of a quantity. This was reflected in the appearance of the concept of 0. Properties of nature were explained by linking distinct phenomena through a law formulated in mathematical terms rather than in terms of essences (Cohen, 1984: 8). So instead of planets being represented by numbers or ratios they were governed by actual mathematical formulas. Acoustics were also governed by their own physics; however, there was no overarching mathematical formula that governed both acoustics and the movement of celestial objects. Therefore, the Harmony of the Spheres was no longer thought to hold any truth.
Kepler’s Harmonic Law
Despite this change in scientific thought, one astronomer still held Pythagoras’ theory of a musically ordered cosmos in high esteem. This was sixteenth century astronomer, Johannes Kepler. His motivation for his research was driven by the desire to find an underlying numerical correspondence between music and the cosmos. For him, this would be proof of a divine power. Though this motivation may not have been in accordance with the rational sentiments of scientific revolution, Kepler’s methodology was in accordance with the new scientific norms. Kepler had the means to accurately observe and measure distances, speeds and sizes of celestial objects. Unlike Pythagoras and his followers, Kepler did not decide what tones were dissonant based on their correspondence with ideal ratios. Instead he sought out to solve the problem Zarlino presented in a way that accounted for the intervals used in Western music at that time and that could also be measurably applicable to other elements in the natural world. Kepler was the first to actually objectively show a numerical correspondence between music and celestial bodies (James, 1993: 140-142). Kepler solved the problem Zarlino exposed by focusing on geometry instead of arithmetic. This involved studying two dimensional services rather than three dimensional solids. The ideal ratios that govern music do not come from length or mass according to Kepler, but from the service area of objects that produce the tones (bells and strings). The perfect ratios are consistently found in the relations between the service areas of objects producing the consonant intervals (Koestler 1959: 393-399) (James, 1993:145). 47
As previously mentioned, Kepler also discovered how these ratios were applicable to the planets. In contrast to Pythagoras and his followers, Kepler studied the movement of the planets instead of their distances. He also used the sun as the central point of the cosmos instead of the earth. The result of this were the three laws that bear Kepler’s name. These laws are still used in astronomy to this day. They explain why the planet’s move the way they do. The First Law states that the orbit of the planets is elliptical and not circular. The sun can be found in the center of one of the focuses of the ellipse. The Second Law (or area law) states that a planet travels equal domains around the sun in equal time which implies that a planet moves faster when it is closer to the sun, because of the elliptical form of the orbit. The Third Law brings geometry, astronomy and music full circle. This Third Law (or Harmonic Law) states that there is a relation between the time it takes a planet to travel around the sun and its average distance from the sun (Heller-Roazen, 2011: 125). For every planet, this relation is equal to the ratio 3:2. This in itself was a breakthrough for astronomy, because it proved consistency in gravity’s force. It had even greater implications according to Kepler, because it showed the harmony of the cosmos. The relation between time and distance of planets “exhibit(s) one basic mathematical consonance: the interval of the perfect fifth” (Heller-Roazen,2011: 126). Kepler’s discovery proved that there was a numerical correspondence between consonant intervals and the size of the services of the objects that produced them. One of these intervals was the perfect fifth, which is considered to be the most esthetically pleasing in Western music. Kepler showed with his Harmonic Law that this interval was evident in the movement of all of the heavenly bodies. Kepler was also able to argue that his other two laws of the movement of celestial bodies accounted for numerous musical intervals that were used at the time. As previously mentioned, the first and second law state that the planets move in an elliptical orbit at different speeds depending on how close they are to the sun. This implies that the planets move between two points of velocity, moving the slowest when farthest from the sun and fastest when closest to sun. Kepler put these velocities in relation to each other and formed ratios for all planets and found that they were all musical in form (Godwin, 1987: 144). Table 8 (below) shows the ratios between the highest speed (perihelion) and the lowest speed (aphelion) of each planet. It shows which intervals are produced by these ratios after being simplified by octave reduction to produce an interval within one octave 48
(ibid.:147). It also shows the ratios between the highest and lowest speeds between different planets which also produce musical intervals.
Table 8. Harmonies of the Planets’ angular velocities, as seen from the Sun:
(ibid.: 146).
Kepler’s data of the speeds of the planets are remarkably accurate as are their reduction to musical intervals. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were later added to this table and also proved 49 to exhibit harmonic ratios (ibid.:147). Musicologist and composer Joscelyn Godwin claims that it is not a coincidence that these findings confirm the idea that musical ratios underlie the cosmos:
Of 74 tones, 58 belong to the major triad CEG. There is not a single fourth or major seventh. (…) All beliefs in cosmic harmony are justified by this table alone, which is based entirely on empirical measurement. (Godwin, 1987: 148)
However, Godwin’s statement is questionable. If cosmic harmony means that there is a numerical overlap between the ratios of musical intervals and the speeds of planets, then yes, this is cosmic harmony. This, however, holds no relevance in contemporary astronomy or musicology. This discovery is interesting and remarkable but it does not uncover a secret to the universe. The numerical overlap seems to be a mere coincidence that is irrelevant to the laws themselves and to any other phenomena in the cosmos. Kepler’s three laws were not dependent on their overlap with musical intervals. They stood on their own. Yet this musical focus was very important to Kepler, because it served as a way to link these three laws to Kepler’s religious preconceptions. To him this was proof of a divine creator of the cosmos. After the emergence of Kepler’s three laws, no other scientists pursued science with Pythagorean or musical motivations. There was no place for notions reminiscent of the Harmony of the Spheres in the development of modern science.
Music as a model at the beginning of modern science
Musicologist Jamie Croy Kassler argues in her book Music, Science, Philosophy: Models in Universe and Thought (2001), that music still played a role in modern science as it developed into the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Kassler claims that music aided scientists in their attempt to conceptualize the forces of nature. Although this resembles the way music was used in Harmony of the Spheres, Kassler explains that music’s role was a lot less literal. It was used as a model in scientific thought, i.e. as an analogical aid (ibid.). This was not specific to astronomy but to science in general. One example of this is William Harvey’s work, in which he describes the development of embryos in the womb in terms of 50 rhythm and dance (ibid.:69). Another example is Newton’s expansion of the color spectrum to include a 6th and 7th color (orange and indigo) that previously were not given their own category. It is said that he found the inclusion necessary to develop an analogy with the musical scale that had seven notes (not including the octave) (McClaren, 2007: 229). It is important to note that science in the seventeenth and eighteenth century was often formulated and communicated through metaphors that were not just musical (Geary, 2011: 294). Thus it is unsure whether this phenomenon of music as a model came directly from notions left over from Harmony of the Spheres. Towards the nineteenth century these kind of metaphorically informed theories were becoming less acceptable in science. This had to do with the development of an ethos within the scientific community that valued literal scientific description (Lessl, 1985: 176). This is because the premature invoking of metaphor in scientific methodology can lead to flawed interpretations, because something is never exactly the same as something else. If a phenomenon is not completely understood in a literal way, metaphor can be misleading, because it can’t be known which aspects of the source domain can or can’t be projected onto the target domain. Scientific theories that are hinged on metaphors can also be difficult to change, because they can only be understood in terms of the metaphor. Sometimes metaphors can be mistaken for objective facts when used consistently. This is why metaphor should only come after the fact in science as a way to communicate theories to those who do not yet grasp the literal concepts. However, the contemporary scientific norms among scientists is rigid and does not accept a metaphor as an argument for a theory (Greary, 2011: 294-302). And so, the nineteenth century marked the end of any role that music played in astronomy — at least until the emergence of the consistent use of musical metaphors in contemporary astronomy dissemination. To shortly summarize, the theory of the Harmony of the Spheres was a way for Pythagoras and his followers to link music to an ordered cosmos that for them, could only mean the hand of a divine creator. Music was that through which this ordered cosmos could be found. Kepler brought this idea to fruition with his three laws of planetary motion which were a link with the cosmos that also corresponded with musical intervals. This was also proof of God for Kepler. The theme underlying the history of the Harmony of the Spheres is music’s function as something that brings credibility to the idea that the universe is ordered 51 by a divine power. There is something about music that makes it the most suitable for the purpose of arguing these religious points.
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Conclusion
Summary
Astronomy and music, seemingly separate domains, find overlap in astronomy dissemination. Documentaries, articles, and videos about astronomy are fraught with musical metaphors that take on many different forms. This thesis has sought out the reason this metaphorical trend has manifested itself in the context of astronomy dissemination and what its implications may be for how music is viewed. Important data have been collected by applying Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) to the musical metaphors in 2 case studies. The first case study consisted of the novel use of the metaphor of a ‘cosmic fugue’ in episode 2 of the popular astronomy show from the 80s, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980). CMT has provided valuable methods and procedures to identify what the conceptual basis of a metaphor is. By utilizing the relevant approaches and concepts of CMT I have identified the conceptual metaphor of the musical metaphors in Cosmos to be LIFE IS MUSIC. The second case study has an equally weighty conceptual metaphor. The conceptual metaphor at the basis of the musical metaphors used to explain string theory is MATTER IS MUSICAL. The conceptual metaphors of the two case studies do not line up with each other, which implies that there is not one underlying concept that produces both of these musical metaphors. However, both of these conceptual metaphors have implications for how music is conceptualized. Music seems to hold a quality that makes it most suitable to draw upon in the context of astronomy dissemination. To find out what this quality is a different approach is needed. It has proven useful to approach the musical metaphor trend in astronomy dissemination as a discourse metaphor due to their parallels. They are both conventional within a specific discourse. They do not have a basis in primary metaphors. They resonate over long periods of time and their source domains are salient cultural objects. In the case of the metaphorical trend this cultural object is music. Discourse metaphors are said to find their formation in socio-cultural processes influenced by social memory (past events and traditions), social preoccupations and entrenched cultural values. 53
To find out why the trend of musical metaphors has manifested itself in astronomy dissemination, I have explored the history of the Harmony of the Spheres and its underlying ideas and motivations. I can conclude that advocates of the Harmony of the Spheres such as Pythagoras, Zarlino and Kepler all clung to music as a way to prove a numerically ordered cosmos. The notion of a numerically or mathematically ordered cosmos was not dependent on music’s correspondence with the the perfect ratios, planetary distances or the laws that governed planetary movements, but nevertheless these astronomers found it necessary to shape their theories in such a way that music could be numerically or mathematically linked to the cosmos. For them, music’s role in the Harmony of the Spheres was definite proof of a divine creator of the universe. Something about music music that makes it the most suitable for the purpose of arguing these religious points.
Music’s Sublime Quality
I propose that the quality that music holds making it suitable to draw upon in astronomy dissemination and that made it the most suitable to defend the concept of a numerically ordered cosmos and thus God, is sublimity. Music holds a sublime quality. Musicologist Jeanette Bicknell explains in her book Why Music Moves Us (2009) how music’s association with the divine and human emotion are both explainable by music’s characterization as sublime. To experience something as sublime is to experience “a feeling of overwhelming awe aroused by contemplation of a particularly magnificent, large or powerful object or event” (Bickmell, 2009: 9). Thus, due to music’s sublime quality, it was essential that it line up with the numerically ordered cosmos, because music is what added the religious component to the theory of Harmony of the Spheres. It is the case that “sublime objects [like music] and the feelings they arouse have thought to bring human beings closer to the divine” (ibid.). The legend that describes Pythagoras’ discovery of the consonant musical tones coming from a forge as being driven by a divine will attests to music’s characterization as sublime. Moreover, the astronomers’ focus on the consonant intervals and their correspondence with the cosmos can be explained by the sublime association with aesthetically pleasing phenomena. 54
So did the utilization of music’s sublime quality in astronomy dissemination, originate from Harmony of the Spheres? Have the ideas that underlie this theory permeated into contemporary culture causing astronomers to use music in a similar way in astronomy dissemination? This does not seem to be the case. First of all, little attention is given to the Harmony of the Spheres in contemporary academic astronomy. Students of astronomy learn about Kepler’s Harmonic Law with no regard for his musical motivations to come up with this law. Furthermore, in another episode of Cosmos, Sagan explicitly condemns Pythagoras for his non-scientific methods and superstitions. Astronomer and author of the book used in the String Theory case study, Michio Kaku’s sentiments line up so well with those of the Harmony of the Spheres. However, Kaku does not refer to Pythagoras or the Harmony of the Spheres in any of his publications about string theory2. Also, these prominent astronomers would not consciously draw upon a religious theory to argue a scientific argument. In the 2 case studies, religious notions do not seem to motivate the use of the musical metaphors, although it is quite clear that Sagan and Kaku hold to the same sublime values of music. This becomes clear in Sagan’s quote about the Interstellar Record which was sent into space to potentially be found by intelligent life. The record contained music. Sagan states,
I was delighted with the suggestion of sending a record for a different reason: We could send music. Our previous message had contained information on what we perceived and how we think. But there is much more to human beings than perceiving and thinking. We are feeling creatures. However, our emotional life is more difficult to communicate, particularly to beings of a very different biological make-up. Music, it seemed to me, was at least a creditable attempt to convey human emotions. (Sagan, 1979: 13)
One can credit music as a way to communicate human emotions because of its sublimity. Kaku illustrates that music holds sublime value to him, as well in what seems to be a more
2 I have searched extensively, but have not been able to find any references to Pythagoras or the Harmony of the Sphere made by Kaku in the context of string theory. 55 religious quote: “The "Mind of God," […] is cosmic music resonating throughout hyperspace.” (Kaku, 1995: 177). Kaku states that his use of the word ‘God’ does not refer to a Christian God, but to a metaphorical God of Order (Kaku, 2006: 331). Since the idea of the Harmony of the Spheres did not seem to influence the development of the utilization of of the sublime quality of music in astronomy dissemination, it can be argued that the notion that music is sublime is an entrenched cultural value at the time Harmony of the Spheres as well as now. So what is the function of music’s sublime quality in the musical metaphors in astronomy dissemination? To answer this question, the function of astronomy dissemination and the motivations of the astronomers participating in this media need to shortly be discussed. There has been an increase of the production and accessibility of media meant for the dissemination of science thanks to the developments of YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and TED talks, among others. Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980) was a forerunner of this increase. This media that engages the public realm in science involves the active participation of scientists. This seems to be a symptom of a growing consensus among scientists that science dissemination is valuable. The motivation behind engaging the public realm with science is to show the importance of science and the raw beauty of scientific pursuit, with the ultimate goal of creating a society, in which science is valued and funded (Eaglemen, 2013). The format in which scientists explain their own field of study has proven to be extremely successful due to their ability to demonstrate their own passion and how they are personally involved with the topic of research. This is done by using metaphors to create a common ground with the public (Scotto di Carlo, 2014: 605). In the Cosmos case study, it is clear that Sagan is arguing for the importance of the search for extraterrestrial life, which is presented by means of the metaphor, the search for the cosmic fugue. The publication that contains the string theory metaphor, Beyond Einstein (1987), was one of the first publications that explained the theory to the general public. It is clear that Kaku was motivated to convince the public of the importance of the theory through his metaphor of the rules of harmony that represent the theory of everything. I argue that the sublime quality of music illustrates the feelings that astronomers have about their live’s work, astronomy. They are drawing upon music to utilize its sublime quality to elevate astronomy to an almost religious status. 56
Sagan has in fact argued that science takes just as much faith as religion. He has illustrated this in his only fictional novel called Contact (1997) that describes an astronomer’s encounter with an extraterrestrial life and her experience of having no shred of proof of this encounter and asking the world to take a leap of faith and believe her, because she is a rational scientist. To conclude, I claim that the use of musical metaphors in astronomy dissemination has been manifested by astronomers to give astronomy a significant religious status by drawing upon the sublime value that they themselves as well as society ascribe to music. This is all to illustrate the importance and beauty of astronomy. Musical metaphors elevate astronomy to a sublime status in astronomy dissemination.
Topics for further research
This thesis has limited itself to the study of musical metaphors in the form of language. It has not even touched upon the question whether music itself could serve the same sublime function as a non-linguistic metaphor. This provides multiple objects of potential study:
1) Music that is used in the documentaries about astronomy 2) Music that is composed to represent occurrences in the cosmos (black holes, the big bang etc.). 3) Music that incorporates recordings of plasma wave or gravitational wave recordings.
It would be interesting to explore how these types of music can serve as metaphors themselves that represent the cosmos. What kind of implications do these compositions have for how the cosmos is viewed? Music’s ability to convey emotional meaning makes it a fascinating non-linguistic metaphor to study. How would the metaphors studied in this thesis translate into musical manifestations of metaphor?
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