Episode 32: Music Has in It neither Grief nor Joy

When you hear sad music and feel some sadness in response, is that because the music has successfully carried the sadness of the musician to you as the listener? Or is it better to say that the sadness is in you, released by the music but not "carried" by it? In this show (our second with a live audience), we discuss the music theory of the third-century philosopher Ji Kang 嵆康 (223–262 CE), who argued against the "carrier" view of music and for a more complicated and pluralistic account of the emotional contents of music. We also discuss Ji Kang's interpretation of a famously evocative and mysterious passage in the Zhuangzi, regarding the "piping of Heaven." To guide us in discussing these issues, we lean heavily on our guest, Meilin Chinn of Santa Clara University, a leading expert on the philosophy of music in China.

Want to skip to the episode's primary philosophical issue? Go to

• 2:14 Preface to today's topic
• 6:50 Ji Kang on music

Many thanks to The Hong Kong Ethics Lab for sponsoring this podcast series.

Want to continue the discussion? Need links to some of the sources mentioned? Go to the support page for this episode on Warp, Weft, and Way.

We thank Lena Li (LI La 李拉) for her expert editing and sound engineering. We also thank the blog Warp, Weft & Way for hosting the discussion for this episode.

Co-hosts:
Richard Kim's website
Justin Tiwald's website