@article{ART001399079},
author={Joonghwan Jeon},
title={What is Music for?},
journal={Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology},
year={2009},
number={17},
pages={15-36},
doi={10.34303/mscol.2009..17.002}
TY - JOUR
AU - Joonghwan Jeon
TI - What is Music for?
JO - Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology
PY - 2009
VL - null
IS - 17
PB - The Korean Society for Musicology
SP - 15
EP - 36
AB - Universal psychological adaptations dealing with human-specific behavior, such as mating with opposite-sex partners, caring for babies, cooperating with others, have been shaped by natural selection such that genes underlying the human-specific traits could get passed into the next generations. However, despite being universally found across all cultures, musical faculties are difficult to determine its adaptive functions, resulting in often heated controversy among many researchers. In his book [The descent of man and selection in relation to sex], Charles Darwin stated that “As neither the enjoyment nor the capacity of producing musical notes are faculties of the least direct use to man in reference to his ordinary habits of life, they must be ranked amongst the most mysterious with which he is endowed.” Some believes that music is a by-product of other psychological adaptations that were evolved for other functions. Still others assert that music is a biological adaptation to fulfill a certain adaptive function, such as courting opposite-sex persons, enhancing social cohesion, and appeasing babies like lullabies. This paper reviews various hypotheses about the adaptive function of music, and contends that, contrary to recent skepticism against the search for the adaptive function of music, an adaptationist approach to music is fundamental to completely understand the biological basis of music.
KW - adaptation;by-product;evolution;musical faculty;function
DO - 10.34303/mscol.2009..17.002
ER -
Joonghwan Jeon. (2009). What is Music for?. Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology, 17, 15-36.
Joonghwan Jeon. 2009, "What is Music for?", Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology, no.17, pp.15-36. Available from: doi:10.34303/mscol.2009..17.002
Joonghwan Jeon "What is Music for?" Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology 17 pp.15-36 (2009) : 15.
Joonghwan Jeon. What is Music for?. 2009; 17 : 15-36. Available from: doi:10.34303/mscol.2009..17.002
Joonghwan Jeon. "What is Music for?" Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology no.17(2009) : 15-36.doi: 10.34303/mscol.2009..17.002
Joonghwan Jeon. What is Music for?. Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology, 17, 15-36. doi: 10.34303/mscol.2009..17.002
Joonghwan Jeon. What is Music for?. Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology. 2009; 17 15-36. doi: 10.34303/mscol.2009..17.002
Joonghwan Jeon. What is Music for?. 2009; 17 : 15-36. Available from: doi:10.34303/mscol.2009..17.002
Joonghwan Jeon. "What is Music for?" Journal of the Korean Society for Musicology no.17(2009) : 15-36.doi: 10.34303/mscol.2009..17.002
