Creative Music Systems and the Individuation of Musical Works

The ontology of music is structured into two logical independent questions: the categorial question and the individuation question. The categorial question aims to state what kind of ontological category musical works are. The individuation question asks for the conditions that settle the identity of musical works, and it is related to the way we appreciate aesthetically musical works and their performances. This paper addresses the individuation question. We defend that musical anti-contextualism is the most suitable view on the individuation of musical works produced by creative music systems. Anti-contextualism is grounded on musical empiricism, a thesis on the artistic appreciation of musical works that we consider the best explanation of the proper appreciation of musical works produced by creative music systems