Focus, Opposition And Deletion

29 September, 2019

Here I restate the Deletion Hypothesis – that music motivates the deletion of considerations from how a listener thinks about a situation – in terms of a focal thing. The things to be deleted from consideration are identified as those things that oppose or contradict the focal thing.

by Philip Dorrell

Revisiting the Deletion Hypothesis

In The Fundamental Meaning Of Music I stated the following hypothesis:

Given the following:

A musical item M
A person L listening to the musical item M
A situation S that the person L is thinking about
Some thing T that would normally be relevant when L is thinking about situation S. T can be just one particular thing, or it can be a group of things.

Then:

Listening to the musical item M motivates the person L to think about situation S as if T does not exist, or, alternatively, as if T does exist, but, T has no relevance to L's thoughts about the situation S.

I then gave various examples of situations S and associated things T to be deleted as considerations.

In some of the examples there was one specific thing T to be deleted from consideration.

But in other examples the things T to be deleted from consideration were mostly defined relative to some other thing that was the main focus of the situation, and the things to be deleted were things that somehow opposed or contradicted that focal thing.

Focus, Opposition and Deletion

If there always exists some focal thing in the situation that music affects, then it may make more sense to state the Deletion Hypothesis in terms of this focal thing, where the things to be deleted from consideration are those things which oppose or contradict the focal thing.

I will label the focal thing as T_f, and the things to be deleted as T_d.

The Deletion Hypothesis, about the fundamental meaning of music, can then be restated as:

Given the following:

A musical item M
A person L listening to the musical item M
A situation S that the person L is thinking about
A thing T_f which is the main focus of the listener's thinking about situation S
Another thing or things T_d that would normally be relevant when L is thinking about situation S, and which oppose or contradict T_f in some way

Then:

Listening to the musical item M motivates the person L to think about situation S as if T_d does not exist, or, alternatively, as if T_d does exist, but, T_d has no relevance to L's thoughts about the situation S.
As a result, because T_d no longer constrains the force of T_f as a consideration, the listener L now thinks about situation S as if T_f was true and relevant to greatest possible extent that it could be true and relevant.

Restatement of Examples

The following is a restatement of the examples from The Fundamental Meaning Of Music in terms of T_f and T_d.

(Probably) Irreversible Change

There is a major and significant change, where the situation after the change is significantly different to the situation before the change.

These situations can be split into two cases:

The change has already happened, and the situation S is about how the present is different from the past.
The change will happen in the future, and the situation S is about how the future will be different from the present. The actual outcome of the change may be uncertain, possibly good or bad, but there is a reasonable certainty that either way the future will not be like the present.

In both cases, the situation S, in the context of the Deletion Hypothesis, is the situation after the change has happened, and the things being deleted from consideration are all those things that will cease to be true or relevant after that change.

So, in the case of past change:

T_f = How things are now, after the change.

T_d = How things were before the change.

And in the case of future change:

T_f = How things will be after the change.

T_d = How things are now, before the change has happened.

"Attitude"

"Attitude" is a situation where the protagonists act or talk assertively without regard to any objection or disapproval from anyone else.

T_f = The intention of the protagonists to act or talk assertively.

T_d = Any fear, anxiety or concern about objections or disapproval from others.

Enjoying the Party

There is a party going on, and everyone is just concentrating on enjoying the party.

T_f = The enjoyment of the party, and all the party-type things that people do at parties.

T_d = Any worries that the party-goers might have in their lives, or any guilt or concern about being at a party when they have other things to do.

Intentional Action

There is a group of people, who are intentionally doing something with the expectation of achieving a worthwhile result. There may be various obstacles or risks associated with the action. There may be other people actively opposing the action of the protagonists.

T_f = The intentional action of the protagonists. In some cases the outcome is uncertain, and the important thing is that the protagonists are committed to the action, even though there is some chance that there might be a bad outcome which will be significantly worse than if they had decided to do nothing at all.

T_d = Any concerns that the protagonist(s) might have about a bad outcome, and any thoughts or doubts that the protagonists may have about the obstacles they may face, including potential opposition from their opponents or enemies.

The World Is Different From How We Thought It Was

T_f = How we now know the world to be.

T_d = How we used to think the world was.