Over the course of this series, I work to synthesize these psychological theories and the insights they provide with the insights of music philosophy. Seymour Sarason, in his book, The Challenge of Art to Psychology, suggests that art “challenges the ways in which psychology conceives of human potential.”[7] What I have attempted to do is explore just how it is that music challenges the way that psychology has viewed human potential and consider what insights the new developments in psychological research can provide for understanding music. So far as I have been able to determine, this particular approach to justifying and understanding the value of music in human life is new and my theoretical study reveals numerous connections that exist between the work of psychologists on the nature of thought and emotion and the work of philosophers on the nature of music.

As a final comment, my highest hope for this work is that it should lead more people to participate in musical activity with a deeper appreciation for its value. With this in mind, I have attempted to make this thesis accessible to those who are not necessarily well-acquainted with music or its study. This thesis, of necessity, goes fairly deeply into various aspects of philosophical and psychological theory, but avoids the use of technical terms when possible and provides a full explanation of those which will help to clarify understanding.

In Part II of this series, I will turn to the exploration of music and why it is that, as Bennett Reimer suggests in his book, A Philosophy of Music Education: “music and the other arts are a basic way that humans know themselves and their world; they are a basic mode of cognition.”[8]



