Music as the Possibility of Breaking Away From Subjectivism in Heidegger’s Perspective

Heidegger regards philosophy as metaphysics. He calls the history of philosophy, especially since the time of Descartes, the history of the expansion of metaphysical subjectivism. From his perspective, metaphysical subjectivism is the main reason for the nihilism or homelessness of modern humans. Accordingly, the present study investigates the possibility of breaking away from subjectivism as a philosophical necessity of our time. In this research, through the works of Heidegger and other thinkers, in addition to answering what subjectivism is, an attempt has been made to investigate the art of music, based on Heidegger's thought, as a possibility for breaking away from subjectivism. As a result, according to Heidegger's interpretation of Hölderlin's "Mnemosyne" and Paul Cézanne's works, by allowing the nothingness in music, the musician not only prepares the ground for the emergence of the truth of being but also makes us aware of the difference between "Being" and "beings," resolves this duality and converts it to a mysterious unity, and makes it possible to break away from subjectivism. Later, the hypothesis stating that "improvisation in music is an experience of openness that is indeed a breaking away from subjectivism" is described and investigated.
Keywords: The Possibility of Breaking Away From Subjectivism, Music, Improvisation, Nothingness, Heidegger’s Thought
Extended Abstract
Introdction
Martin Heidegger believes that philosophers throughout the history of metaphysics have sought to find answers to the question of what beings are, but since the language of metaphysics has always confused "Being" and "beings", man cannot have an original relationship with "Being" and has become homeless as a result. According to Heidegger's thought, subjectivism as a kind of encounter with the world, which metaphysics takes advantage of by neglecting Being, is the main cause of the nihilistic situation of us humans today. Now, this research tries to investigate the art of music, according to Heidegger's thoughts, as a possibility to break away from subjectivism. What has caused the consideration of art in general and especially the art of music for this purpose is Heidegger's own words in the treatise in The Origin of the Work of Art. He states there that the essence of art is "the setting-itself-to-work of the truth of Being," and the work of art is a special example of the occurrence of the truth of Being.
In Heidegger's thought, poets—who can be considered artists according to the broad meaning of poetry in Heidegger's view—in the era of hardship or homelessness, we modern humans, by following Dionysus, follow in the footsteps of the gods. They find the departed, and with the guidance of other mortals, they change them and thus provide the means for the return of the gods. He says that by trusting Dionysus, man becomes ecstatic—an experience of excitement or soothing anxiety. The event that this research tries to show, although it is short, can be an experience of breaking away from subjectivism. What causes this event is the establishment of a world from within nothingness or absence, an event that, from the point of view of this article, occurs in music in the highest possible way: revealing harmonious songs from within the silence.
This article tries to show that improvisation in music is a situation that can lead to the liberation of the musician, the audience/listener, and even the composer from being a subject. The composer, musician, and audience, as participants in a musical dialogue, get the opportunity to surrender themselves to music and experience a break from subjectivism. Based on what was said, this research intends to examine the art of music as a possibility to break away from subjectivism.
 
 
Methodology
In this research, according to the subject and objectives, the descriptive method has been used.
 
Discussion
Perhaps Heidegger's main motive for criticizing metaphysics and subjectivism is to answer the crisis of nihilism. A crisis that Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche understood before him and heralded its arrival. But Heidegger believes that although Nietzsche correctly considered the history of metaphysics to be the history of the expansion of nihilism and criticized metaphysics, he not only did not understand the foundation of nihilism correctly but also proposed a metaphysical thought. Heidegger says that real nihilism is where a person considers beings only as they exist, and with this approach to beings, the question of Being is negated and the Being of a kind of "nothingness" is imagined. According to Heidegger, true nihilism, which is the foundation of Nietzsche's nihilism, is the forgetting of the question of Being, which is rooted in more than 2500 years of metaphysical history. According to Heidegger, the whole history of philosophy, especially from the time of Descartes onwards, can be called the history of the expansion of "metaphysical subjectivism". On this basis, "understanding of man as a subject", "interpreting the world as an object," and "considering the subject-object relationship as the main relationship between man and the world" are the main indicators of thought based on metaphysical subjectivism.
Accordingly, when we accept the assumption that "man is a subject by nature" as a principle, not only our kind of encounter with the world—which has now become an object—will be offensive, but the way to understand the truth of things will be closed.
Now, by allowing absence to appear in the work of art, artists not only prepare the stage for the occurrence of the truth of Being, but at the same time, by making us aware of the distinction between "Being" and "beings", they have removed this duality and created a mysterious unity.
An event that occurs in music in the highest possible way means revealing harmonious songs from within the silence and retreating into it. Silence is the horizon from which the sounds are created, just as nothingness is the horizon for the presence of what is present or beings.
Moreover, there is no music that does not contain some degree of improvisation. And improvisation in music has the potential to create, even for a moment, an experience of breaking away from subjectivism.
 
Conclusion
According to what has been said, it can be said that the musical works are the scene of revealing harmonious songs from within the silence and their return to nothingness. Based on this, firstly, because of the fundamental role of silence in music, which leads to musical works to present "nothingness" in the highest possible form; secondly, because the art of music deals with sound and the fact that sound can easily become an object; and thirdly, because there is no musical performance that lacks a minimum of improvisation and improvisation itself is an experience of breaking away from subjectivism, the art of music can be considered a possibility for breaking away from subjectivism in a general sense.