Thinky thoughts

[alliecat8]

I haven't posted since March. That's because music has become my life. Well, that and traveling but that was all about music, too, the Broadway shows...anyway, here goes:

Some cognitive scientists believe human response to music provides evidence that we are more than just flesh and blood - that we also have souls. Their thinking is as follows:

All reactions to external stimuli can be traced back to an evolutionary rational. You pull your hand away from fire to avoid physical harm. You get butterflies before an important speech because the adrenaline running through your veins has caused a physiological fight or flight response. But there is no evolutionary context within which people's response to music makes sense - the tapping of feet, the urge to sing along or to get up and dance, there's just no survival benefit to these activities. For this reason, some believe that our response to music is proof that there's more to us than just biological and physiological mechanics - that the only way to be moved by the spirit, so to speak, is to have one in the first place.

Thoughts?

Comments

[eponine119.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

But doesn't this classifying music as a stimulus actually disprove its point too? Any creature will respond to an external stimulus, soul or not. The evolutionary/survival instinct is tied to most of the responses they mention - voices, sound, movement.

I'm either the devil's advocate or I'm really dumb. Welcome back.

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

I'm useles at D & M, but I adore music and all I can say is what would my life be without it? Hopelessly boring, I imagine. It's definitely good for the spirit and maybe that's the benefit as a human; who knows?