Ascending Numbers

by Catherine Pickstock

This volume is a theological inquiry into the metaphysical and ontological meaning of music from Augustine through post-modernism. In Ascending Numbers: Augustines De Musica and the Western Tradition, Catherine Pickstock examines the metaphysics of Augustine's De Musica and how it relates to his later Christian writings as well as to other philosophers' ontological thinking about music through modern and post-modern times. In Augustine's age, music was thought to measure the relationship of body to soul, and thus, in light of the Trinity, could and can be seen as the supreme measure of God. Utilizing a tripartite scheme to discuss music, the book is divided along the lines of the cosmic, the psychic and the ethical (which reflect Augustine's divisions of musica mundana, musica humana and music instrumentalis). Through these categories, the author contrasts the Augustinian tradition with the non-Western Indian musical tradition, the disintegration of the Western tradition after Descartes, and a new, more nihilistic invoking of tradition by post-modern musical ontologyall of which she brings to bear on understanding socio-political order.

208 pages, Paperback

First published December 26, 2000