The Concept of Games in the Philosophical-Aesthetic Perspective of Western Music

BI Kun

Journal of Central Conservatory of Music ›› 2025 ›› Issue (4) : 115-134.

Journal of Central Conservatory of Music ›› 2025 ›› Issue (4) : 115-134.

The Concept of Games in the Philosophical-Aesthetic Perspective of Western Music

  • BI Kun
Author information +
History +

Abstract

This paper centers on the concept of “Spiel/Play/Game” and reveals its dual nature as both a manifestation of human freedom and a critical tool for modernity.Play is interpreted as a non-utilitarian sensory practice that,through the dialectical tension between rules and chance,order and improvisation,becomes the prototype for artistic creation and social interaction.From ancient philosophical metaphors of cosmic genesis to medieval symbols of religious redemption,from Enlightenment-era negotiations between reason and sensibility to Romanticism's dissolution of subjectivity,play persistently engages with human nature to construct non-utilitarian communities.Music,as the highest form of play,materializes the dialectic of freedom and order through structural logic and acoustic expression,thereby envisioning a utopian field resistant to alienation.Play thus reconfigures primal vitality within the fissure between rationality and poeticity.It ultimately points toward the liberating potential of a primordial human condition.

Key words

Philosophy of Games / Aesthetics of Games / History of Ideas / Music / Human Existence

Cite this article

Download Citations
BI Kun. The Concept of Games in the Philosophical-Aesthetic Perspective of Western Music[J]. Journal of Central Conservatory of Music. 2025(4): 115-134

Accesses

Citation

Detail

Sections
Recommended

/