FSU Discovery Days: Humanities Center lecture explores music's origins and the human experience

How did humans become musical creatures? Can the sciences and humanities help us understand the origins of music? Those questions guided a guest lecture from the Florida State University Humanities Center on Thursday, Oct. 22, held as part of FSU Discovery Days, the university’s annual celebration of research, creativity and innovation.

Gary Tomlinson, Sterling Professor of Music and the Humanities and director of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University, delivered the lecture, “Evolutionary Humanities and the Hard Problem of Music,” to students, faculty and local community members in the Beth Moor Lounge.

Fundamental abilities shared by all humans make music possible, Tomlinson told the audience.

“You’re all musicians,” he said. “Human music depends universally on a number of capacities that come in all normal human development and socialization, in a way that is similar, but not identical, to the kicking in of language.”

Understanding how those capacities emerged, however, presents a challenging question. Researchers have suggested music evolved to bring people together, calm children, coordinate group activities or facilitate rituals. But Tomlinson argued these theories explain how people use music, not how music itself originated.

“Each of these hypotheses might point to important functions of music in early human societies, even to functions and purposes today, but they are powerless to speak to the emergence of music,” he said.

Tomlinson emphasized the importance of connecting the sciences and humanities to better understand music. Scientific approaches can help researchers investigate the biological and cognitive processes that make music possible, while the humanities offer ways to interpret music’s cultural significance and its place in the human experience.

“To construct bridges, where that communication happens, is hugely important,” he said.

Tomlinson’s talk was part of the FSU Humanities Center’s year-long lecture series highlighting its 2026-2027 theme, “The Human in the Humanities,” which explores what it means to be human amid the rise of artificial intelligence and other technological advances.

“This lecture has helped us represent the mission of the Humanities Center,” said John Corrigan, FSU Humanities Center director and Lucius Moody Bristol Distinguished Professor of Religion and Professor of History. “Tomlinson’s work is a profound example of the way in which the life sciences can be joined to humanities and shows how the humanities can invent language to understand things that might at first seem beyond language.”

For Larissa Todd, a senior double majoring in the English literature, media and culture track and philosophy through the College of Arts and Sciences, the lecture offered a new perspective.

“The intersection between music and science was incredibly novel and interesting to me,” Todd said. “This lecture was unexpected and thought-provoking, and I enjoyed how Tomlinson’s research connected with the human experience. Lectures like this are so important and create space for robust conversation.”

To learn more about FSU Discovery Days, visit discoverydays.fsu.edu. For more information about the FSU Humanities Center and to see upcoming events, visit humanities.fsu.edu.