The Phenomenal Appreciation of Reasons

Huckleberry Finn believes that by helping Miss Watson’s slave Jim escape to freedom, he is doing something wrong. But Huck does it anyway—and many want to give him moral credit for this choice. If Huck is to be worthy of such moral esteem, however, it seems there must be some implicit way of appreciating and responding to considerations as moral reasons that does not involve explicitly believing that those considerations are moral reasons. This chapter argues that an agent like Huck can implicitly appreciate a consideration as a moral reason to φ‎ by presenting it under the light of a particular phenomenologically-mediated mode of presentation: one that presents that consideration via the light of a felt directive force “pointing” towards φ‎-ing—lending weight to it, or soliciting it—in a particular authoritative way. Thus, I suggest, Huck may be understood on analogy with a young jazz piano virtuoso. As she may appreciate that the G-seventh chord having been played just so constitutes an aesthetic reason for her to ease into the C-major-seventh chord just so by virtue of experiencing the former as pointing or directing her to the latter, so also, I propose, Huck may appreciate the considerations speaking in favor of helping Jim as moral reasons to help Jim by virtue of experiencing them as pointing or directing him to help Jim. The chapter also examines and rejects four alternative proposals for how to account for implicit reasons-appreciation: first, a de re account of appreciation and then three additional accounts of appreciation derived from major theories of mental representation (inferentialist, causal tracking, and functionalist theories).

Jazz Piano

Performing as a pianist in a jazz ensemble can be very rewarding. But to ensure participation is satisfying for both the individual and the group, requisite skill sets for performance must be learned, and musical responsibilities to fellow performers must be understood. This chapter presents useful harmonic theory and practical jazz piano exercises to help developing jazz pianists build a strong foundation. In addition, various harmonic exercises are presented that educators can provide to assist their pianists’ development, including an overview of basic, flexible voicings that are useful in many different jazz styles. The latter portion of the chapter provides a general philosophy regarding the role of the piano within the jazz ensemble, providing teachers with the perspective necessary to offer their pianists the most effective instruction.

Practice, Practice, Practice

In the 1993 film Groundhog Day, misanthropic meteorologist Phil Connors relives the same 24 hours, over and over and over again…for years on end. Given nearly infinite “do-overs,” Phil learns to speak French, play jazz piano, and flip cards into an upturned hat. Most important: he discovers the good in other people, and he learns to care about them. In return, they love him back. There's a lesson in Groundhog Day for all of us: Trying to do something over and over again, with intention and focus and feedback on what we could do better next time, is how you improve—at anything.