Ontology of music and the crisis of classical metaphysics

The aim of this article is to substantiate the thesis that the philosophical understanding of music is not confined to the realm of aesthetics; rather, music, like other art forms, implicitly contains its own ontology. The primary research method employed is philosophical comparativism. Through a comparative analysis, the study demonstrates that philosophers who are creators of their own original systems, when turning to the art of music, inevitably encounter a certain resistance from the subject matter. Music reveals boundaries that prevent its full integration into any given ontological concept. The problem lies in the fact that music's inherent ontology cannot be entirely subsumed within pre-existing philosophical systems. This gives rise to a conflict between different, sometimes heterogeneous, ontologies: the ontology of the philosopher, the creator of their own system, and the implicit ontology of music itself. This conflict can also be detected at a paradigmatic level: the general ontological orientation of a particular epoch may run counter to the internal ontology of music. The author concludes that in every significant period in the history of philosophy, one can identify its specific ontological dominants and establish correlations between the ontological dominant of an era and the particular type of artistic creativity that corresponds to it most fully. According to the author, the ontological dominant of Antiquity is corporeality. The ontological dominant of Medieval philosophy is God as a transcendent first principle. Beginning with the Renaissance and further into the New Age, the dominant becomes human subjectivity. Correspondingly, in the sphere of artistic creativity, the ontological dominant of Antiquity is best answered by sculpture, while the dominant of Medieval philosophy is best embodied by the Gothic cathedral. The art most closely aligned, in its ontological implications, with the spirit of the New Age is painting. The study concludes that although the philosophical conceptualization of music has been undertaken by various thinkers throughout history, from the Pythagoreans to representatives of contemporary thought, the predominant tendency in most cases has been to inscribe music into one or another ready-made ontological system and paradigm. It is shown that in the philosophy of the New Age, the prevailing approach has been to conceptualize music within the dominant paradigm of subj ectivity. This tendency finds its most complete embodiment in Hegel's aesthetics. Yet, even Schopenhauer's interpretation of music does not transcend the framework of European metaphysics. Nevertheless, in the musical philosophies of both Hegel and Schopenhauer, a certain residual element is discernible - one that is not integrated into their own systems and does not correspond to the ontological dominant of the New Age. The author concludes that explicating this unassimilated remainder is of fundamental importance for the task of developing an ontology of music. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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