Regarding all the naming and labeling we do (e.g. "Cycle of 5ths", "Post Bop", "Traditional Jazz", "Bbsus7b9"), I read an interesting quote in Philip Toshio Sudo's "Zen Computer":
"Name what can be named: align yourself with that which can't."
This suggested, to me, that in the course of studying music (or computers, or climbing, or whatever), it helps to name and label stuff. But, all the intellectual work should be aimed at the goal of recognizing, living, and playing in a spiritual place.
Just a couple of my pennies...
Interesting. I think the naming helps early on, as it helps make a new category for the new stuff, and let's us contrast it with the old stuff that we already know. BUT - eventually it has to get incorporated into the known. I can't think of any art (or sport), that involves spontaneity and also leaves enough time to THINK about what comes next.