Music Education for Humane Ends and A Common Good? A Call for Sobriety – Between Hubris and Resignation

Sometimes music educators seem to have an idea about music as something that can change individuals and societies to the better. Music has transforming powers. Theodor W. Adorno however argues, with Marx, that human alienation is closely linked to economic conditions, which makes it impossible that the aesthetic “community will” alone should be able to overcome human lack of harmony. We think that we need such a reminder – about the danger of hubris on behalf of the transforming powers of music and music education – in times when a lot of voices are calling for the relevance of music and music education.

On the other hand, this kind of critical thinking must not be to turned into resignation concerning the power of music and music education. In this paper we will, based on impulses from (German and Nordic) Bildung theory, Charles Taylor, Axel Honneth, Martha Nussbaum, and Iris Murdoch, examine the philosophical challenges and pedagogical opportunities when it comes to the discussion about music education for the common good and humane ends, constructing a humane music education that can contribute to an education for the good of humanity and society.

When we refer to representatives of moral philosophy, this does not mean that we find that some moralist standards have to be followed in our search for the human good for music education. Rather, we find that these impulses inspire to thinking in alternative, more imaginative ways about what could constitute a common human good.

We hope to being able to build an argument which is not falling into the ditches of whether hubris nor resignation, but rather one that is characterized by sobriety (in the meaning “philosophical moderation”), and also by hope and confidence in the possibilities for music education in our time.