Clément Rosset and musical experience

Abstract

This article has one fundamental concern: to think Clement Rosset’s philosophy of music. To understand the fundamental premises guiding his thinking, we must consider his readings of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Jankélévitch, as it is with these musician-philosophers that Rosset develops his own understanding of music. If we can, in this way, recognize a line of thinking that has linked philosophy and music since the nineteenth century, we must nevertheless ask if Rosset represents a genuine advance or just a repetition of the statements and positions of Nietzsche and Jankelevitch. This debate is relevant because Rosset is regarded in France as the successor of a new philosophy of music, yet without what this means having ever become clear, which makes it seem as though it is the only alternative left, given the philosophical lack afflicting the Parisian intellectual milieu. We therefore investigate whether Rosset’s reflections lead the philosophy of music into new regions, or if it is a question of a kind of silence imposed by the inability to philosophize. © Revista Colombiana de Ciencias Sociales.