Stephen Davies is a Distinguished Professor of
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
at the
University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
, New Zealand. He mainly writes on
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
, particularly the
philosophy of music
Philosophy of music is the study of "fundamental questions about the nature of music and our experience of it".Andrew Kania,The Philosophy of Music, ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Spring 2014 edition, edited by Edward N. Zalta. The ph ...
but also works on political philosophy. He is a past president of the
American Society for Aesthetics
American Society for Aesthetics (ASA) is a
philosophical organization founded in 1942 to promote the study of aesthetics. The ASA sponsors national and regional conferences, and publishes the ''Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'', the '' ...
(2007–2008), and the New Zealand division of the Australasian Association of Philosophy (2001).
Work
One of Davies's first journal publications was 'The Expression of Emotion in Music', published in ''
Mind
The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...
'' in 1980 (Vol. 89, pp. 67–86). In this article Davies first outlined his theory that music is expressive of emotions in virtue of resembling the way that emotions appear. This theory is similar to one outlined by
in his book ''The Corded Shell'', also published in 1980. However, Davies developed his view independently as an undergraduate in the 1970s, and the theory was part of his PhD thesis awarded in 1976 from the University of London. In contrast to Kivy, Davies also places a greater emphasis on the resemblance between music and physical gesture, where Kivy tends to emphasize the resemblance to the expressive vocalisations. Davies was inspired when seeing an advertisement for
Hush Puppies
Hush Puppies is an American brand of casual footwear. A division of Wolverine World Wide, Hush Puppies is headquartered in Rockford, Michigan. Wolverine also licenses the Hush Puppies name for apparel, toys and accessories.
Hush Puppies uses a ...
shoes, with the thought that we recognize sadness in the face of
Basset hounds, despite knowing that they do not feel sad.
Davies also maintains a research interest in ethnomusicology, which he studied as an undergraduate, particularly the aesthetics of
Balinese music
The Music of Bali, Bali is an Indonesian island that shares in the gamelan and other music of Indonesia, Indonesian musical styles. Bali, however, has its own techniques and styles, including kecak, a form of singing that imitates the sound of ...
.
[See, e.g., his articl]
'Balinese Aesthetics'
/ref>
Books
* ''Definitions of Art''. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1991.
* ''Musical Meaning and Expression''. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1994.
* ''Musical Works and Performances: A Philosophical Exploration''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001.
* ''Themes in the Philosophy of Music''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
* ''Philosophical Perspectives on Art''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
* ''Musical Understandings and Other Essays on the Philosophy of Music''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
* ''The Artful Species: Aesthetics, Art, and Evolution''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
* ''The Philosophy of Art''. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016. Second edition.* ''Adornment: What Self-Decoration Tells Us About Who We Are''. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020.
Edited Books
* ''Art and Its Messages: Meaning, Morality, and Society''. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.
* ''Art and Essence''. Westport: Praeger, 2003. With A. C. Sukla.
* ''A Companion to Aesthetics''. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Second edition. With K. Higgins, R. Hopkins, R. Stecker and D. E. Cooper.
References
External links
Faculty Page at the University of Auckland
Website for ''The Artful Species: Aesthetics, Art, and Evolution''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Stephen
Living people
Alumni of the University of London
Philosophers of music
Philosophers of art
University of Auckland faculty
New Zealand philosophers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Distinguished professors of philosophy