C'est un penseur très original qui a
développé une intuition sublime qui l'a
accompagné toute sa vie : l'ouïe est à l'origine
de l'entendement parce que le son est le véhicule physique de
la conscience, de sorte que c'est en analysant la structure
fondamentale du son que l'on peut dévoiler les clés qui
ont permis la naissance des idées, le développement des
civilisations, l'émancipation des sciences et des
arts. Porté au départ au pinacle par les
philosophes des Lumières (Diderot, D'Alembert), Rameau sera
ensuite déjugé - notamment par Rousseau -, dès
que ses intuitions contrarieront l'agnosticisme en vogue.
Traditional definitions, at least as commonly portrayed in
contemporary discussions of the definition of art, take artworks to be
characterized by a single type of property. The standard candidates are
representational properties, expressive properties, and formal
properties. So there are representational or mimetic definitions,
expressive definitions, and formalist definitions, which hold that
artworks are characterized by their possession of, respectively,
representational, expressive, and formal properties. It is not
difficult to find fault with these simple definitions. For example,
possessing representational, expressive, and formal properties cannot
be sufficient
'Perhaps the greatest legacy is not in any specific thing, but in the
relations between parts of our lives. I believe that modernity and its
freedoms and benefits emerge from the never-ending tension caused by
separating and balancing parts of our lives. England was the first
country which successfully held the demands of the State, the Church,
the Family and the Economy in some kind of balance where none came to
dominate. This leads to personal responsibility and freedom. It also
leads to endless contradictions and confusions. So perhaps the great
contribution of England is to show that muddle, confusion, contradiction
and paradox should be welcomed.'