Um som de um outro

: o objecto, a marca e o símbolo

Abstract

How can one distinguish one sound from another? How subtle can the differences between sonic marks be for us to differentiate one mark from another? How is it that any given sound is not always representative of anything? How is it that there are sounds at all and not merely the totality of Sound? Wherever there are mechanisms for the propagation of mechanical waves, there is also the potential for the reception of these stimuli in the human cochlea, resulting in a cochlear event that we call sound. All cochlear events that we consider sound construct the homogeneity of the totality of Sound — the apparent sonic continuum intrinsic to the human experience of the world — and each of these events can represent more than its sound source. According to the representation theory of the American philosopher Nelson Goodman, everything is representation. The sonic mark emerges as the result of the perception of a cochlear event that, responding to distinctions of any nature, is cut out from a remainder. Sound, as a mark, is distinguishable from another sound, potentiating multiple possible fictions. But what is sound? This dissertation, stemming from an investigation that seeks to understand how sound — seen as a public and shareable object, and therefore within the domain of Language — functions as a symbol, questions the very acoustic definition of sound. Drawing upon a bibliography grounded in Nelson Goodman's nominalism, with a particular focus on The Structure of Appearance (1951), the central challenge is to test sound and its definition through these readings in a study in the realms of the philosophy of sound, questioning the acoustic definition of sound advancing, exploratorily, with possibilities. It asks: what is, where is, and when is sound? Based on Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics by Peter F. Strawson, the hypothesis is raised that sound may be aspatial — that it neither possesses nor allows us to construct a notion of space through it — thus reinforcing the separation between heard sound and sound source. Through a study of homogeneity, as developed by Austen Clark in The Particulate Instantiation of Homogeneous Pink, it is suggested that human perception might, perhaps, be considered digital (discrete and divisible) and that the resolution of human perception of the world is lower than the world’s own resolution. Not all elements composing an object are discernible; there are qualitative differences that exist below the threshold of perception. Thus, it follows that a Bb sound from a struck bell contains Bb elements, non-Bb elements, and non-sonic elements. This sound, recognized as Bb, is no longer, for us, merely the objet sonore of Pierre Schaeffer and Michel Chion. This Bb, heard at a specific phenomenological moment, precisely because it is recognized by a listener as Bb, now constitutes a sonic mark belonging to the character Bb, which is here also rendered through the typographically written symbol “Bb.” The distinction between sonic marks is not necessarily achieved through temporal distance, something demonstrated by the auditory fusion threshold and reinforced by Nelson Goodman in The Structure of Appearance, where he argues that the time factor is always present in any change of another factor. There is a minimum resolution required, and the time factor alone is insufficient to enable the distinction between marks. It is here suggested that the distinction between sonic marks may, perhaps, be better understood through LEJ Brouwer’s concept of twoity: an intuitive comparison between a moment that was and a moment that is.

Date of Award	11 Feb 2025
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Vânia Maria Coutinho (Supervisor) & Diogo Tudela (Co-Supervisor)