Towards an Ontological Turn in Music Education with Heidegger’s Philosophy of Being and His Notion of Releasement

Abstract

This chapter discusses the influence of the current European educational policy on music education in some Scandinavian countries and in Germany in light of Heidegger’s philosophy of being and his critique of technology. Heidegger’s genealogical history of nihilism asserts that the individual’s relation to reality has developed from “letting beings be” to “mastery” and “control.” In the current paradigm of enframing, we increasingly deal with objects, including ourselves, as resources to be exploited. This has consequences of direct relevance to music education, in relation to the aspect of musical Bildung, to questions concerning the artistic qualities of music and to the existential role of music in the lives of individuals. This chapter discusses a possible ontological turn in music education, considering the current paradigm. Such a turn includes the move from an understanding of Bildung as the transfer of truth as veritas or correctness, into an understanding of Bildung as aletheia or the uncovering of truth. Since art to Heidegger is a happening of truth similar to the happening of truth as aletheia, music as an arts-based subject assumes a unique role among the other school subjects. As a result, a renewed focus on the significance of musical experiences may be an appropriate response to the oblivion-of-being in music education.