ABSTRACT
In this chapter I make a case for reacquainting the musician with the techniques of rigorous argumentation; namely, with the arts of positing theses, explaining them, defending them from objections and counter-theses; with the arts of defining our terms, of using evidence, of evaluating other people’s arguments, of producing novel ideas or theories and examining their consequences. Behind this call to a return to argumentation there is a reaffirmation of the principles that the art of music be treated as an object of serious intellectual enquiry and that in universities our responsibility is to ask serious questions of music, and work through them with all the intellectual means at our disposal. We also have an obligation to set our thinking before others in our community so that it can be appraised, and so that others can learn from what we are doing. My basic point is that these ancient obligations, as well as making the study of music in the university distinct from study in the conservatoire sector, are worthy and eminently useful.
