Toward a Framework for a New Philosophy of Music Education: Løgstrup as Synergy Between the Platonic and the Aristotelian Perspectives in the Music Education Philosophies of Bennett Reimer and David Elliott

In the domain of music education philosophy there are, at present, two foundational systems that purport to be self-contained philosophies of music education. These are music education as aesthetic education, often referred to as MEAE, espoused by Bennett Reimer, and the praxial philosophy of music education posited by David Elliott. The debate between these two philosophies has been contentious and has had the effect of fracturing the philosophical underpinning of the music profession in an irreconcilable way. It is the purpose of this dissertation to introduce a third voice, that of the Danish philosopher Knut Løgstrup, to serve as a synergy between the philosophies of Reimer and Elliott and lead toward a framework of thinking for music education philosophy. I assert that the philosophies of Reimer and Elliott represent a modern articulation of an ancient dialectic between Platonic and Aristotelian ideals. Thus, the Reimer philosophy has its foundation in Platonic thought and Elliott has embraced an Aristotelian philosophical perspective. Løgstrup's position provides a third fundamental viewpoint that includes both Platonic and Aristotelian thinking and can therefore provide a synergy for these two music education philosophies. He refers to his philosophy as an ontological ethics. As a methodological approach, I utilize a metaphilosophical analysis in which I examine the Platonic tendencies of Reimer and the Aristotelian foundation of Elliott by examining both the content and the methodology of their prospective philosophies. I then make an application of Løgstrup's philosophical system, which is an ethical system, to music education philosophy and bring the most important aspects of Reimer's and Elliott's philosophies into a synergy using Løgstrup's ideas.