Volume 217, 2015, Pages 3–15
Music, Neurology, and Neuroscience: Evolution, the Musical Brain, Medical Conditions, and Therapies
Chapter 1 – Darwin and Spencer on the origin of music: is music the food of love?
Abstract
Finding
an evolutionary explanation for the origins of music serves as a rich
test of broader ideas on the emergence of mind and the evolution of
mental processes. Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer both offered
evolutionary explanations for the origins of music, indicating the
importance of the question for these two leading nineteenth-century
students of “descent with modification.” Their discussion unfolded
between the publication of Spencer's “The origin and function of music”
in 1857 and Darwin's commentaries on music in The Descent of Man
in 1871 with an addendum Spencer offered to his original article in
light of Darwin's views. They had conflicting views on the lines of
causation, asked differing questions, and had fundamentally different
approaches. Their exchange laid the foundation for the discussion among
contemporary adaptationists and nonadaptationists and contributed to the
thinking of those who argue for Mixed Origins of Music or that it is a
Transformative Technology of Mind.
Keywords
- Charles Darwin;
- Herbert Spencer;
- music;
- evolution;
- sexual selection;
- adaptationism
- Corresponding author: Tel.:
+ 1-314-246-7768; Fax: +1-314-968-7166
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
