Electronic Music mailing list archives

I know this is a little late and this discussion already died, but it 
always recurs anyways. I wanted to add a few words to support Kevin's.

Before asking whether "objectively good music" is possible, or even 
whether objectivity is possible, we cannot even find an agreement of 
what "objectivity" is.
Put simply, the positivist concept of objectivity is that it's a feature 
of the individual who is able to put aside his own biases in order to 
discover the objective (external) "truth."
Post-positivist thought regards objectivity as a feature of society.  It 
is never attainable but it is approachable by means of triangulation of 
many fallible individual perspectives.  Some post-positivists (critical 
realists) believe that an external truth (reality) exists, while some 
(the subjectivists) don't.
Post-modernists rejects all of it (the "real" reality, objectivity, the 
methods of obtaining it, etc.) In fact, extreme post-modernists reject 
any method except their own deconstructivism)  

So now... let's ask the question again.. .is it possible to have an 
objectively good music?
No doubt!
In your mind!

Cheers
Eldad


Kevin Austin wrote:
>
> Ah ... an objective historian. Ask the American what year World War II 
> began in. Ask a Chinese historian the same thing. Ask a Taiwanese and 
> a Beijing historian if the 1949 revolution was won or lost.
>
> Objective science ... you may recall that the United States, during WW 
> II, kept two blood supplies with the Red Cross, one for white soldiers 
> and one for blacks. The question is, if Barack were in desperate need 
> of a transfusion, which would he receive. The answer is ... if he has 
> a Democrat doctor, black, if he had a Republican doctor, none.
>
> These are not isolated examples, the so-called "weasels". The history 
> of science is filled with resistance ... consider the discovery of 
> germs, or the impossibility of radiation.
>
> But, I'm not asking you to change your point of view. I think the 
> questions about objectivity keep hitting the wall of belief. I don't 
> need to explain it as it is a belief system and no one tries to 
> explain belief systems "objectively".
>
>
>
> Best
>
> Kevin
>
>
>
>
> On 2008, May 11, at 11:04 AM, Michael Gogins wrote:
>
>> Some humans make an attempt to be objective... scientists, 
>> historians, critics, judges, teachers, and such. You want them to 
>> stop? You don't care what they do?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Mike
>>
>