Abstract

While music education practice has moved towards greater diversity, the philosophy of music education remains rather Western-centric, with limited scholars drawing on philosophical resources beyond the West. This is problematic, as a truly inclusive approach to music education ought to embrace multiple philosophical voices. In this paper, we examine a quartet of approaches (that is, world philosophy, multiculturalism, internationalization, and decolonization) that scholars in academic philosophy have used to tackle the lack of philosophical diversity and argue that they have limited applicability to music education. We then forward what we term a “multi-philosophical” approach to music education, one that takes into consideration diverse philosophical sources regardless of their political, cultural, national, racial, gender, or any other divisional association. Through this approach, music education philosophy moves towards “boundarylessness” while maintaining, evolving, and affirming individual identities, with philosophia advancing from a “love of wisdom” to a “love of all wisdoms.”