Halewood, Michael (2015) On equal temperament. History of the Human Sciences, 28 (3). pp. 3-21. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695114567480
Halewood, Michael (2015) On equal temperament. History of the Human Sciences, 28 (3). pp. 3-21. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695114567480
Halewood, Michael (2015) On equal temperament. History of the Human Sciences, 28 (3). pp. 3-21. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695114567480
Abstract
In this article, I use Stengers’ (2010) concepts of ‘factish’, ‘requirements’ and ‘obligations’, as well as Latour’s (1993) critique of modernity, to interrogate the rise of Equal Temperament as the dominant system of tuning for western music. I argue that Equal Temperament is founded on an unacknowledged compromise which undermines its claims to rationality and universality. This compromise rests on the standardization which is the hallmark of the tuning system of Equal Temperament, and, in this way, it is emblematic of Latour’s definition of modernity. I further argue that the problem of the tuning of musical instruments is one which epitomizes the modern distinction between the natural and the social. In turn, this bears witness to what Whitehead calls the ‘bifurcation of nature’. Throughout this article, using the work of Stengers and Latour, I seek to use tuning as a case study which allows social research to talk both of the natural and of the social aspects of music and tuning, without recourse to essentialism or simple social construction. In this way, my argument seeks to avoid bifurcating nature.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Bruno Latour, natural-social, Isabelle Stengers, tuning, A. N. Whitehead |
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology M Music and Books on Music > M Music |
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology and Criminology, Department of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 16 Apr 2015 15:00 |
Last Modified: | 16 May 2024 16:32 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/13554 |
Available files
Filename: Final Proofs HHS567480.pdf