The Academic: A Look from the Perspective of Music

By: Humberto Tovar Pachón, Research Professor of the Music Program, Zipaquirá Extension

To begin, the elements that make up that title must be broken down, and from there the discussion can begin.

We are immediately confronted with the personal pronoun "Lo" in the third person singular, a pronoun that leaves the noun it replaces encrypted, which, by making use of the paradigmatic dimension of language, can be taken as the noun that satisfies the communicative intention of the sender; a pronoun that is accompanied by the qualifying adjective "Academic", which is used to name not only individuals but also entities or their products, objects or projects that are related to higher levels of education.

The pronoun and adjective together reveal the theme to be addressed, which aims to establish what is granted this title; what requirements it must meet to be worthy of such a designation; and, of course, whether there is anything in music that can be classified as such. Therefore, the study must address which noun will take the place of the pronoun used in the title, which is referred to as "academic.".

It is worth noting that the ACADEMY was the name given to an educational institution founded by Plato around 387 BC, in ancient Greece, and whose name was given in honor of Akadeomos (Academus), a mythological hero who, according to legend, had as his dwelling the lands where such an institution was built, located on the outskirts of Athens, in eastern Attica, lands that were originally a public garden planted with plane trees and olive trees, and which was donated to the Athenians.

The instruction provided by the “Academy” included, among other things, the math with significant Pythagorean influence; the natural sciences, And of course, we couldn't forget the dialectics which as a theory and rhetorical strategy of dialoguing and discussing with the intention of discovering the truth through the exposition and confrontation of opposing reasoning and arguments, which was one of the domains of that philosopher who inaugurated the institution that has been mentioned.

Since the emergence of the "Academy", which had manifestations in different places and times, also in the present day; its social purpose has been education.

It should be noted that in the Middle Ages, the term "academy" referred to the body of professors and students who met either in the monastic school located in the monasteries, in cathedral school around the cathedral library or the palatine school Founded by Emperor Charlemagne in the palace of his capital Aachen, located near the German border with Belgium and the Netherlands, during the Carolingian Renaissance.

These schools, some studium for all students without distinction and others, the Studium Generale o particular, The first was for higher education and the second was non-university in nature; they were taught out of conviction, a branch of teaching, by those who in the medieval university It was called Faculty or faculty.

In the mid-15th century, which is classified as the Renaissance, the idea spread that the academy is a cultural institution outside the university setting, bringing together a multitude of disciplines, but also intellectuals, and where artists, scientists, philologists, poets, and others exchange ideas, even coinciding in the same person.

It should be added that later, around the 1560s, which extended to classicism of the 17th century and neoclassicism of the 18th and 19th centuries, in contrast to the Baroque and Romantic periods, the concept of academy is associated with a idea of art and from aesthetics where the beauty identifies with the mimesis; That is, through the imitation of nature; and the conception of learning art takes place in an academic environment; that is, in an institution subject to a formal program with subjects and teachers and learning based on the reproduction of models classics of antiquity and subjection to the rules of art.

Today, academia is synonymous with “world intellectual”"It takes its seat at the university, to which the artistic world also belongs, with private or public sponsorship. But it can also be a non-university educational establishment of a professional, artistic, technical, or practical nature.".

It is worth pausing for a moment to consider the scope of the expression "intellectual world" that has just been mentioned because what is meant by "intellectual world" that is given as a synonym for academia?

"Intellectual" here serves as a qualifier, but it derives from the noun "intellect," the faculty for retaining knowledge gained through research, where memory, while not being memory itself, plays a crucial role. This is easily confused with intelligence, which is essentially the ability to select accurately and precisely. This selection is only possible if one has a foundation, a base, or a foundation that allows it.

The intellect is both the beginning and the end of reason, which cannot move from one thing to another unless its discourse begins with the apprehension of reality; this apprehension is called the intellect of principles. Similarly, the discourse of reason must arrive at something that pertains to first principles and that constitutes intellectual judgment. The intellect thus becomes the beginning of reason, meaning that reasoning begins based on what is already known; but the intellect is also the end of reason at the point of reflection reached. It is, therefore, that which is already known or that which attains this status.

Let us add that thought proceeds from the known to the unknown; what moves is based on what is immobile, and what is immobile is what is known—the intellect. The development of reason presupposes the intellect. In thought, the intellect fulfills the function of receiving thought.

Let's state it explicitly: the intellect is the foundation of reason, which, through the process of thought, leads to a judgment that necessarily becomes a new foundation for subsequent processes. In other words, what is known—the intellect—immobile and subject to reason, leads, through the act of knowing, to new knowledge that then rises again as intellect for further reflection.

Having established what we should understand as intellect, it remains to review its relationship with academia and establish how they become synonyms, remembering that synonymy is equality in meaning, although interdiscourses make contributions that can determine and denote beyond meaning.

In the phrase “intellectual world,” the word “world,” in Heideggerian terms, implies a human construction, in contrast to “earth,” which refers to what is given without human intervention. Thus, the world, a cultural construct, becomes the academy, the repository of knowledge, the locus of the intellect, of the “intellectual world” which, through the action of reason, attains the aforementioned “intellectual judgment”; new knowledge that continues to belong to the academy, awaiting new processes and new intellectuals to make it possible.

On the other hand, it was said in previous paragraphs that currently the academy, the known world, the intellectual world takes its seat in the university, for whose concept we adhere to what Jacques Derrida said in "The Pupils of the University: The Principle of Reason and the Idea of the University" in which in his reflection he asks about the reason for being of the university, about its justification for existing, about its meaning, its purpose, about its cause in order to explain it etc, discussion that in its development this author was able to conclude that the university is the space of reason or for reason, which, as established in this writing, begins in the academy, in the intellect, in what is known until reaching new knowledge, a consequence of the action of thought.

It should be added that, although reason turns out to be a prodigious lens with which we intend to see the essence of things, it is indeed prodigious, but ultimately a lens and as such is limited.

Therefore, we can also assume that the university is the space for knowledge or of knowledge, but, even so, knowledge is a totality practically unattainable for mortals (John Dewey “Art as Experience” and François Lyotard “Postmodern Condition, Report on Knowledge”).

It remains to be added that knowledge, attainable through reason based on experience, is part of learning. Therefore, the university is the space for the construction of knowledge, and as knowledge, it is intellect, it is academia; this aligns with what was previously stated about the university.

The university is therefore the space of reason or for reason; the space for knowledge or of knowledge; the space for the construction of knowledge, where academia is practiced, the intellect is cultivated, and knowledge is built.

Returning to the discussion about the academic, the pronoun "The" refers to everything studied at the university, which, although there are institutions that call themselves that and are of different levels, at the first level, under state supervision, requires adherence to a formal program with subjects and teaching staff specialized in the different areas, as already began to happen in the previous period.

It should be added that, in addition to being the product resulting from the action of academia, an academic is also defined as a person who has obtained an advanced degree in either science or art and who works as a researcher at a university.

At the risk of being repetitive, for which the reader is apologized, some concepts established in this text are revisited by way of conclusion. Thus, the title of academic is bestowed upon those who work and produce knowledge within the university, knowledge that has been acquired and where the intellect plays a decisive role; a title that must meet requirements under the rigor of research understood not necessarily within the scientific realm, but rather as the sphere and context of the intellect in the pursuit of new knowledge, based in the university that is designed, or should be designed, for academia.

But to be worthy of that designation, academic work must not only meet the rigor mentioned above, but also have recognition from academic peers and from the social group involved in the production of knowledge that also inhabits the natural seat for the production of knowledge, which is the university.

To conclude, it is essential to address whether there is anything in music that can be described in this way. If we understand this discipline as a correlate of language, or even better than language itself, then in music it is more accurate to say that it is heterogeneous and multifaceted. Everything that has been constructed in language since Ferdinand de Saussure remains to be done in music, starting from the most basic element: naming it in a way that is appropriate and consistent with the nature of this faculty.

That will not be possible if, from the comfort of transliteration from any other semiotic system, we dedicate ourselves to delight, to enjoyment, leaving aside its saying and what its translation or other system implies, particularly the verbal one; and its capacity to move.

All of the above must remain an academic exercise, and the university, it is reiterated, is the place to establish it in such a way that the value judgments so natural in musical discourse are overcome once and for all.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

Cruz, Juan. (2002). Intellect, reason, and understanding. Retrieved from https://www.todostuslibros.com/autor/cruz-cruz-jua

Derrida, J. (1989) The Pupils of the University: The Principle of Reason and the Idea of the University. Retrieved from: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=27907

Dewey, J. (1934) El Arte como experiencia. Recuperado de archivos.liccom.edu.uy/…/Dewey,%20John%20-%20El%20arte%20como%20experie

Heidegger, M. (1953). The Origin of the Work of Art. Madrid. Alianza Publishing House.

López, R. (2000). Music and rhetoric of the Baroque. Mexico, Editorial, Amalgama Ediciones

Lyotard, F. (1987) The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Retrieved from: cmap.javeriana.edu.co/servlet/SBReadResourceServlet?rid=1KBWV3GHX…321

Saussure, F (1913). Course in General Linguistics. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ed. Lozada.

Tovar, H. (2013). Reflections on art and the artistic. A semiotic perspective. Realitas, Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, 1(1), 76-81

Tovar, H. (2014) Art: Knowledge or Poiesis? Master's Thesis, Sergio Arboleda University. Bogotá, Colombia

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