Nick Zangwill


Nick Zangwill is a British philosopher and Ferens Chair in Philosophy at the University of Hull. He is known for his expertise on the aesthetics of music and the philosophy of art.

Background

Zangwill has defined his position as 'moderate formalism' in art as referring to those properties "that are determined solely by sensory or physical properties—so long as the physical properties in question are not relations to other things and other times." The philosopher and architect Branko Mitrovic has defined formalism in art and architecture as "the doctrine that states that the aesthetic qualities of works of visual art derive from the visual and spatial properties."

Philosophy of Music

In the 21st century, philosophers such as Nick Zangwill have extended the study of aesthetics in music, as studied in the 20th century by scholars such as Jerrison and Peter Kivy. In his 2015 book on the aesthetics of music titled Music and Aesthetic Reality: Formalism and the Limits of Description, Zangwill introduces his realist position by stating, "By 'realism' about musical experience, I mean a view that foregrounds the aesthetic properties of music and our experience of these properties: musical experience is an awareness of an array of sounds and of the aesthetic properties that they determine. Our experience is directed onto the sound structure and its aesthetic properties. This is the content of musical experience."

Books