Philosophy of Music Education Challenged: Heideggerian Inspirations

Book excerpt: This volume offers key insights into the crisis of legitimization that music as a subject of arts education seems to be in. Music as an educational subject is under intense pressure, both economically, due to the reduction of education budgets, as well as due to a loss of status with policy makers. The contributions in this book illuminate Martin Heidegger’s thinking as a highly cogent theoretical framework for understanding the nature and depth of this crisis. The contributors explore from various angles the relationship between the pressure on music education and the foundations of our technical and rationalized modern society and lead the way on the indispensable first steps towards reconnecting the cultural practices of education with music and its valuable contributions to personal development.