Page:Philosophical Review Volume 12.djvu/645

629

I. In popular parlance art and science are often confused. After seeing some brilliant bit of dexterity, as in some difficult game, we sometimes hear persons exclaiming: "Look at the science of that,"whereas it is quite possible that the performer has very crude and ill-defined notions about his methods. He has the knack of the thing, but he cannot explain wherein the knack consists. In such a case the term science is misapplied. Science, as its etymology would indicate, is knowledge, not cleverness, but all facile correct performance has the character of art, which may be broadly defined as skill in the production, or skilled activity directed to the production, of some desired object other than knowledge. For example, the art of music is the activity which concerns itself with the production of certain sounds that please the ear by reason of their rhythmic character, their melody or their harmony. The musician may know nothing of the natural principles which underlie the operations of sound. He may be absolutely ignorant of the fact that different wave-lengths of vibrating atmosphere correspond to different pitches of the sound heard. He may know nothing of the theory of over-tones; he need not even have knowledge of the principles of counterpoint and harmony ; and yet, in spite of all his musical ignorance, he may be able to please the most fastidious taste with the rich, sympathetic, soul-stirring or soul-quieting character of his musical performance. On the other hand, who has not known some tone-scientist who can tell all about timbre, melody, harmony, counterpoint, and a thousand other things in music, who knows how to finger the keys or the strings, whose execution is faultless, and yet whose playing 'has no soul in it'? We thus see that there is an art of music and there is a science of music. The musical scientist does not primarily aim at the production of music, but at the understanding of it. His ideal is complete knowledge of the principles underlying the art of music. His compositions are technical articles for scientific journals, not