Abstract
This chapter engages with the question of whether musical absorption is not some kind of “flow” experience. I analyze Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of flow to draw a twofold negative conclusion to the question. Firstly, the theory is so general and conceptually underspecifying, especially with regard to the nature of self-awareness, that more or less any pleasant experience might instantiate flow: as such it is not falsifiable. Secondly, in spite of its generality, a number of DSQ experiences are incompatible with the theory as its predictions on the relation between challenge and skill do not hold.
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Notes
- 1.
Montero also criticizes Csikszentmihalyi and is generally “against flow” (2017) much in the same way that she is against Dreyfus’ “coping”.
- 2.
For instance Experiencing Flow in Jazz Performance (Hytönen-Ng 2013) and “Group Flow” (Cochrane 2017).
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Høffding, S. (2018). Flow. In: A Phenomenology of Musical Absorption. New Directions in Philosophy and Cognitive Science. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00659-4_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00659-4_7
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