But it does not follow from that fact that what I have in mind is not necessary for self-realization. I have no wish to dispute these glosses on the point of art or to diminish their importance to, say, aesthetics or to theories about the internalist or externalist aims of art. I do not know how to argue for my point, other than to illustrate it. I will work through one illustration in some detail and then attempt to draw out the general message I have in mind. The example I have in mind is drawn from the well-known work of the American music theorist and composer, John Cage.
Cage writes, When . . .
Sound and silence differ, of course. But they differ not as ultimate categories but, more simply and less ultimately, as merely the intended and the not intended differ. So the new conception of sound redoes the lay theoretical conception in a novel way. Silence takes a rightful place as a form of sound alongside other forms of sound. There are two moves in Cage's treatment that reflect conceptual ingenuity and also suggest implications for art and for ordinary experience.