Title : Reflections on current perceptions of the five-element musical-affective philosophy: A call to re-evaluate the essence of the human body and colonialism in research methodology
Abstract:
The objective of this paper is to critically engage with current scholarship and advocacy surrounding the Chinese music-medical philosophy of Five Element Music, focusing on the musical-affective perspective of the five modes derived from the five tones, each of which elicits a specific emotion. By performing and listening to music in different modes, emotions can be regulated, and bodily harmony can be achieved through the therapeutic use of music. This paper uses two methodologies: first, archival research on current scholarship on Five Element Music; second, digital ethnography of practitioners’ advocacy through online articles and musical tracks. It is found that there is a surge since the early 2000s in experimental studies using Five Element Music for therapeutic interventions targeting negative emotions. Online articles and tracks also suggest that advocates see these effects as extending beyond Chinese cultures. Based on the observational findings, it is criticized that both academic scholarship and practitioners’ advocacy have overlooked the essence of the human body by treating it as naturalistic. It is argued that there is no transcultural or transhistorical body. Recent scholarship in psychology and neuroscience proposes the concept of “culture embrained” to describe the dynamic relationship between culture and the brain, rejecting the persistent dichotomy between nature and nurture. The brain can be structurally shaped, building on its natural and innate capacities, through repetitive cultural practices that produce plastic changes in neural pathways. Musical experience is culturally shaped, so the same piece can evoke different emotions across listeners. However, the Five-Element musical-affective philosophy cannot be denied as a potentially natural pattern of affective experience in response to music in different modes. In addition, the theory of gene-culture coevolution shows that genetic and cultural systems influence and shape each other over evolutionary time. Therefore, it is argue that there is no transcultural nor transhistorical body, and that this traditional philosophy needs to be re-evaluated. The colonial research methodology applied to Five Elements music-affective philosophy is also criticized. The studies often adopt the lens of Western musical universals, which detaches different musical modes from their cultural and relational contexts by treating music as an isolated stimulus for experiments and neuroimaging. It needs to be acknowledged that music-affective philosophy is only one perspective within the broader Five Tone Music philosophy, which reflects a complex worldview in which the universe and material bodies are composed of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. These five elements correspond to five seasons, five organs, five musical tones, and five emotions. Therefore, ethnographic research is needed to illustrate the music-affective relationship in its cultural context, alongside natural scientific experimental methods that consider Chinese traditional anatomical theories, such as meridians, which have been validated by medical researchers. It is concluded that a re-evaluation of current scholarship and practice of Chinese music-medical philosophy is compulsory, treating the field not only as a natural science but also as a social science and a humanities discipline.
