ABSTRACT
For a long time now, music educators have equipped themselves with “romantic” justification arguments. Suggesting that scholars as well as practitioners of music education are about to reach a higher level of maturity in their justification philosophy, in this chapter I will draw the attention toward some of the problematic sides of those arguments, supported by theory as well as empirical findings. In particular, we are overdue to reconsider aspects of the rationales we link to the universality and globalization of music and music education. By solely focusing on how universality and globalization can function as legitimation arguments, we do not consider the validity of these arguments. Moreover, by adopting such a one-dimensional focus, we miss the opportunity to gain deeper insights into the diverse and complex dynamics of globalization with which music education is intertwined in the societal conditions of late modernity. Therefore, we should uncouple the link between the utility and function of these arguments for justification purposes, and what they are actually about, or, in other words, their substance. This requires us to move from the normative perspectives and justification interests we display when attempting to prove arguments, to descriptive-analytical perspectives and theoretical-empirical interests aiming at analyzing, understanding and describing phenomena. Accepting this challenge of reassessing the substance of our arguments in critical and descriptive-analytical ways, we may arrive at new insights into both what we do and what we want to do, thereby laying a more solid ground for our future justification of music and music education.
