A Stone should not be Music: Abstract Artefacts and Social Practices

Abstract In recent decades, the precise metaphysical nature of abstract artworks has become a contentious subject. Notably, according to Friedell (2020, 2025), properties traditionally deemed intrinsic to abstract artefacts are extrinsic. For instance, musical works are argued to have features such as sound structures, lyrics, rhythm, and the like only extrinsically. From this perspective, such musical properties are attributed to musical works through social conventions. In this article, I will critically examine Friedell’s view, particularly in the context of musical works. Specifically, this line of view cannot exclude non-music such as fictional characters or even a stone becoming music or other artworks.