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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Music is expressive of emotions because music resembles human expressive behavior

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Music can express emotions it does not resemble: a slow, quiet piece may express dread rather than sadness, which it more closely resembles.
      ?

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    • 2.Resemblance is neither necessary nor sufficient for expression, since a recording of weeping resembles grief more than any symphony yet is not expressive in the aesthetic sense.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Hanslick demonstrated that the same melodic material has been set to radically opposed emotional texts across history, undermining stable resemblance-to-emotion mappings.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If musical expression were grounded in resemblance to expressive behavior, listeners across cultures would converge on identical emotional attributions, but ethnomusicological evidence shows significant cross-cultural divergence.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Music can resemble vocal or non-vocal human expressive behavior (e.g., the plodding steps of a sad person or the joyful cries of a happy person)
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      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.When music resembles such expressive behavior, it is heard as sad, joyful, or expressive of some other emotion
      ?

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    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.