John Vernon- The Purpose of Music

In the Nature of Art, Immanuel Kant mentions his concept of disinterested pleasure. His idea refers to delight in beauty as being occasioned by the perceptual representation of a thing. He states: “It is as if the object were produced in order for it to be perceived by me. “this free play of the faculties produces a pleasurable feeling of the sort that gives rise to the judgment that the object is beautiful. For this reason, we see beautiful objects as purposive, but without their fulfilling any actual purpose” (49). My interpretation of Kant’s statement is that what we perceive to be beautiful is designed precisely for that purpose, except there is no actual intention of what the art is trying to achieve.

In contrary to Kant, I would argue that music does have a purpose of achieving. I believe that God designed music to help us connect and put us in a temporary place of self-reflection. For me, listening to music, especially worship style songs, help me focus better when I am journaling, and naturally, a way for me to draw closer to God. Martin Heidegger highlights this effect of music in Being and Time. He uses an example of a hammer to argue a hammer is a tool designed to bang in nails and “we do not encounter the hammer by thinking about it; we grasp and wield it, for our concern is not with it but with our reason for using it” (Ford). I think Heidegger shows that humans value purpose and reason for doing things. Thus, it makes sense that music helps to communicate and convey emotions. We listen to music because it makes us feel certain emotions.