A Scientific Theory of Music

Philip Dorrell writes on his own website:

Some music scientists, music researchers and music philosophers suggest that maybe we should take Darwin’s theory of evolution into account when analysing music. My view is that we have to take Darwin’s theory of evolution into account, because music is an aspect of human behaviour, and human beings are living organisms, so everything about human nature must be explained in terms that are consistent with Darwin’s theory of evolution.

What I do manage to avoid is the necessity that music has some adaptive purpose, because I realise that the critical phenomenon to explain is that of music perception. I develop the hypothesis that music perception is really an adaptation for the perception of something else, where the most likely candidate for that something else is some component or aspect of speech.

More here.