Impact case study database

Influencing Creative Practice and Increasing Public Engagement with Philosophy

The albums (5.2, 5.3) perform key insights from Tartaglia’s research (3.1 and 3.2) relating to the importance of open debate, cultural enrichment and imagination to philosophy (3.1, 3.2, 3.4). The albums, a series of performances and the generation of interactive online content, have increased and diversified public engagement with philosophical research.

Through collaboration with public arts organisations and private music clubs, nine concerts of the two albums have been performed, reaching an estimated 750 people live at a range of diverse venues, including jazz venues, arts centres and a museum (5.4). Jazz audiences, in particular, have been a beneficiary of this research and activity. Tartaglia performed Jazz-Philosophy Fusion (2016) at Cambridge International Jazz Festival (November 2017), which attracted around 15,000 visitors across 15 days of live music and workshops. In addition, the two creative outputs have been featured extensively in mainstream jazz platforms and publications, in the UK and internationally. For instance, all tracks from both albums were aired during the weekly jazz show of Radio Devin (Slovakia) as well as some tracks on community radio in the UK. On 20 September 2020, a two-hour dedicated discussion programme was broadcast on Radio Devin, with the presenter and four philosophers (Slovak and Czech) discussing a selection of recordings made between 2002 and 2019 (5.1, 5.5). Midlands jazz blog: Jazz Breakfast (over 5,800 followers), featured an interview with Tartaglia (September 2016), and the first album was featured in London Jazz News’ weekly showcase (average circulation: 14,337), with a full-page feature in The Birmingham Post (June 2016) (5.1, 5.5).

Almost 500 CD albums of Jazz Philosophy Fusion (2016) have been distributed and the Gods and Titans (2020) digital album has received 2081 page visits. The broader project website has been viewed 44,964 times (5.4). Tartaglia has published accessible accounts of jazz-philosophy fusion in the philosophy magazines Philosophy Now (‘The Sound of Philosophy’, 2017) Filozofuj (in Polish, 2018) and The Philosopher’s Magazine (‘Jazz, Philosophy, Hate, Love’, 2020).

Enhanced understandings of philosophical ideas and challenging conventional wisdom about philosophy

This extensive interaction with Tartaglia’s research has challenged audience preconceptions about philosophy, introducing them to new ideas and enhancing understandings of key philosophical concepts and problems. Listeners are taught philosophical ideas and problems in a new and engaging manner. Fifteen songs recorded across the two albums (5.2, 5.3) pose a range of critical philosophical questions interrogated in Tartaglia’s research, for instance, about the meaning of life, nature of selfhood, whether experience can be understood physically, whether freedom is possible, the value of honesty (3.1, 3.2). The music often presents opposing views on these issues, and performances encourage audiences to form their own opinions, through vocal prompts at live events and interactive questions in online fora (5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10).

The subsequent interactions from listeners and audience members reveal that the music inspired people to think on a wide variety of philosophical matters and often changed people’s perceptions about philosophical ideas. For example, over half of survey respondents reported changing their view on the relationship between personal identity and the self after listening to Jazz-Philosophy Fusion (2016). One song from this album, ‘Teletransportation’, asks whether physical replication in another place can constitute travel, and 20 individuals reported changing their minds about this after listening to the song. When asked whether the song ‘The Transcendental Ego’ helped them understand what philosophers mean when they say that consciousness is private, 23 (over half the total survey respondents) agreed that it did (5.6). Listener responses to God of Titans (2020) reveal that over 76% thought that philosophical ideas presented in this way enrich their lives, with 60% indicating that the song in question inspired new ideas in them (5.7).

Comments demonstrate that the music stimulated listener thinking and deep reflection. One listener (2016 concert) commented, “During the performance of Schopenhauer's Blues, I found that as the piece began descending into the chaotic end section...my thoughts were solely on the concept of right and wrong. I was having a really intense discussion with myself regarding my own morals...” Another audience member commented: ‘i t occurred to me that perhaps that I am not a fixed, specific "self' but a series of discrete selves existing only in the moment.” One person reflected, “ I experienced the power of succinctness of music: organised sound can abbreviate and intensify the use of words to express deep ideas by appealing to emotional depth” (5.6).