Cage’s philosophy of silence developed toward recognition of its positive quality as a substantive presence rather than mere negation.

Evidence

John Cage on Silence (Medium)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Silence is a positive, self-contained reality rather than mere absence. — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 19; Silence is not the mere absence of something else, but a complex positive phenomenon — Silence: The Phenomenon and Its Ontological Significance; Silence is a positive, a reality, and language has the power to make assertions about all reality. — The World of Silence by Max Picard (+9 more)

Related

• Cage’s silence turns out to be not an absence of sound but an opening to unintended yet palpable sounds that saturate our perceptual field. (similarity 0.88)
• Silence is not the absence of sound but rather the presence of unintended sounds, as demonstrated by Cage’s 4’33”. (similarity 0.87)
• Silence is a positive presence rather than mere absence (similarity 0.85)
• Silence is a positive, self-contained reality rather than mere absence. (similarity 0.85)
• Silence is a primary, objective reality which cannot be traced back to anything else, preserving the mark of the Divine in creation. (similarity 0.83)
• Silence is not the mere absence of something else, but a complex positive phenomenon (similarity 0.83)
• Silence is a positive, a reality, and language has the power to make assertions about all reality. (similarity 0.83)
• Silence is nothing merely negative; it is not the mere absence of speech, but has a kind of Being of its own. (similarity 0.82)
• Silence is real, as darkness and cold are real; we feel these as positive sensations, not merely negations of something else. (similarity 0.82)
• Silence is nothing merely negative; it is a positive, a complete world in itself (similarity 0.82)
• Silence is an active presence that must be experienced, not imagined (similarity 0.81)
• For Picard, silence is not an absence of sound or a void, but has substance and its own reality — silence has Being. (similarity 0.81)
• To Picard the theologian, silence is the context of consciousness while language is the expression of creation. (similarity 0.81)
• Natural silence is a positive presence felt in the body (similarity 0.81)
• Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything, the presence of time, undisturbed. (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Silence is a positive presence rather than mere absence #expands (0.95) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 1294
• Silence is an active presence that must be experienced, not imagined #expands (0.90) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 26
• Natural silence is a positive presence felt in the body #expands (0.80) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 26