Ápeiron. Estudios de filosofía — Monográfico «Wittgenstein. Música y arquitectura» Wittgenstein and Musical Formalism: A Case Revisited Wittgenstein y el formalismo musical: Un caso reconsiderado Hanne Appelqvist University of Helsinki
[email protected] Abstract: This article defends a formalist interpretation of Wittgenstein’s later thought on music by com- paring it with Eduard Hanslick’s musical formalism. In doing so, it returns to a disagreement I have had with Bela Szabados who, in his book Wittgenstein as a Philosophical Tone-Poet, claims that the attribution of formalism obscures the role that music played in the development of Wittgenstein’s thought. The paper scrutinizes the four arguments Szabados presents to defend his claim, pertaining to alleged differences be- tween Wittgenstein and Hanslick on their accounts of theory, beauty, rules, and the broader significance of music. I will argue that in each case the similarities between Wittgenstein’s and Hanslick’s respective views outshine possible differences. Ultimately, I will argue that instead of rendering music a marginal phenom- enon suited for mere entertainment, formalism –as presented by Hanslick and Wittgenstein, whom I read as influenced by Kant’s aesthetics– underscores music’s ability to show fundamental features of reality and our relation to it. Music does this precisely as a sensuous yet structured medium that is irreducible to any conceptually determined domain. Keywords: Wittgenstein, Hanslick, Kant, formalism, music. Resumen: Este artículo defiende una interpretación formalista del pensamiento posterior de Wittgenstein so- bre la música comparándolo con el formalismo musical de Eduard Hanslick. Con ese fin, reconsidera un des- acuerdo que he tenido con Bela Szabados.