Auditory objects as higher-order objects

Vincenzo Santarcangelo

pp. 8-21

in: The auditory object, Rivista di estetica 66, 2017.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is, firstly, to identify the areas of conceptual confusion about the notion of auditory object that could benefit from a cooperation between philosophy and psychology of perception. Secondly, I try to clarify in what sense there may be individual entities that exist only in time focusing on auditory objects, and to establish what kind of relationship links the existence of such purely temporal entities with the existence of spatiotemporal entities such as bodies or physical objects. Finally, a new definition of auditory object, conceived as a partially mind-dependent object, or Meinongian higher-order object based on inferiora, is discussed.