This chapter both introduces the simple view in the ontology of music and explains its scope. In essence, the simple view consists of an answer to two questions: the categorial question and the individuation question. The categorial question asks which ontological category works of music fall under, and the answer given by the simple view — the type/token theory — is that such works are types whose tokens are sound-sequence-events. The individuation question asks how such works are individuated, and the answer given by the simple view — sonicism — is that works are identical just in case they sound exactly alike. The chapter claims that the simple view applies to all works of pure, instrumental music. It states the case defended in subsequent chapters: that the two components of the simple view are both prima facie correct and stand undefeated in the wake of the objections they commonly face.
Keywords: individuation, ontological category, the simple view, sonicism, the type/token theory