Are You an Emotivist or an Cognitivist?

There is no doubt that everyone loves to listen to music, but what kinds of music people are listening to makes the difference. Music has shown to induce emotions such as every day feelings like anger, sadness, and happiness (Hunter, 131). People who believe that music induces emotions are usually called emotivists. Emotivists believe that a certain song can induce certain types of emotions. For example the song “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO may activate an emotion such as joy or happiness. I am defiantly an emotivist. When I listen to “Party Rock Anthem” your going to see me jumping around and shuffling like a crazy woman, even if a second before I was feeling down. But there are also people who believe that music cannot lead to a certain emotions and that the song is either happy or sad. Listeners who believe this may call songs happy or sad because the song expresses happiness or sadness. A person who believes this would be called a cognitivist. Cognitivists believe that just because the song that they are listening to at the time is sad doesn’t mean that they are sad. They think that the only time a person would be sad while listening to music is if it is a bad song. Kivy, a music philosopher who is also a cognitivist said “I experience unalloyed joy when I listen to sad music that is great music, utter boredom when it is sad music that is bad music” (Hunter, 131). If Kivy were to listen to the song “Party Rock Anthem” and didn’t like it he would be feeling hatred, even though the song is very happy and outgoing. I believe also it has to do whether or not you like the type of song you are listening too. But it is up to you to decide whether or not you are an emotivist or a cognitivist. For my next blog post I will be posting studies that music philosophers have done on music emotions, until next time! And if you would like to listen to the song “Party Rock Anthem” please select the play button down at the bottom of this post. Comment and tell me what type of emotion you experienced while listen to the song!