Stephen John Davies is a Distinguished Professor ofphilosophy at theUniversity of Auckland, New Zealand.[1] He mainly writes onaesthetics, particularly thephilosophy of music but also works on political philosophy.[2] He is a past president of theAmerican Society for Aesthetics (2007–2008), and the New Zealand division of the Australasian Association of Philosophy (2001).[3]
One of Davies's first journal publications was 'The Expression of Emotion in Music', published inMind in 1980 (Vol. 89, pp. 67–86). In this article Davies first outlined his theory that music is expressive of emotions in virtue of resembling[how?] the way that emotions appear. Thisliteralist theory is similar to one outlined byPeter Kivy in his bookThe Corded Shell, also published in 1980. However, Davies developed his view independently as an undergraduate in the 1970s, and the theory was part of his PhD thesis awarded in 1976 from the University of London.[4] In contrast to Kivy, Davies also places a greater emphasis on the resemblance between music and physical gesture, where Kivy tends to emphasize the resemblance to the expressive vocalisations. Davies was inspired when seeing an advertisement forHush Puppies shoes, with the thought that we recognize sadness in the face ofBasset hounds, despite knowing that they do not necessarily feel sad.[5]
Davies also maintains a research interest in ethnomusicology, which he studied as an undergraduate,[6] particularly the aesthetics ofBalinese music.[7]
In 2009, Davies was elected aFellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.[8]
