The Western tradition has prioritised language, and its remarkable precision, as the primary tool for understanding reality. But some claim music is a means to reach depths and meaning unreachable in words — as Victor Hugo argued, “music expresses that which cannot be said.” While Darwin made the case that language actually originated with music. Some recent research supports this claim. Babies respond to pitch and rhythm long before they understand words — suggesting music runs deeper than language. While psychologists have demonstrated music can trigger a physiological response to a perceived truth or beauty that subjects report as "impossible to describe in words".
Should we use music to access deeper realms of reality, and recognise that in some respects it can reach further than language? And if our use of music developed either alongside or before language, is it more central to our understanding of the world? Or should we not forget that it is language that sets us apart and has made knowledge possible?
Should we use music to access deeper realms of reality, and recognise that in some respects it can reach further than language? And if our use of music developed either alongside or before language, is it more central to our understanding of the world? Or should we not forget that it is language that sets us apart and has made knowledge possible?
