In chapter seven of *Gödel, Escher, Bach*, author Douglas Hofstadter focuses on the elusive concept of meaning. What does it mean when something has meaning, how does one recognize meaning, and where is meaning located? Ultimately, Hofstadter argues for the view of *objective meaning,* where there is "universality of at least some messages, without, to be sure, claiming it for all messages." (158) In this case, universality denotes that an object will still have the same meaning independent of time, location, and observer. It can be summarized with the latin phrase Hofstadter promotes: *Quaerendo Invenietis,* translated as "by seeking, you will discover." This phrase represents the idea that the meaning of something is embedded inside…show more content… Out of all three, however, it is the musical examples that are most striking. This example centers on the hypothetical situation of communication with an alien race. In this event, an unknown alien civilization would receive a disk that was full of songs from Earth. Although we can never escape what Hofstadter calls *earth chauvinism,* or a non-anthropocentric definition of intelligence (172), in this situation there will be an assumption that the alien race has innate intelligence that is closer to the human concept, than say of intelligence of a rock. Another assumption is that the alien race will have some sort of technology to be able to play the music. Now, the concern is if the the alien species will be able to comprehend the music on the disk, if they will exhibit similar reactions humans display when listening to the music. Hofstadter argues that this greatly depends on what music is on the…show more content… However, I would have liked to see an example from the art world. The study of Aesthetics and meaning has always been a topic of interest, and it seems like a missed opportunity to not bring it up in a discussion of meaning. This example could analyze works paralleling composition of Bach and Cage. Since this book features artist, M.C. Escher, an appropriate comparison would be the works of artist Jackson Pollock. Pollock, like John Cage, is an artist who's pieces are so abstract, so avant-garde. that many people are bewildered when they hear of all the praise his works acquire. They just do not understand what is so great about them, what makes them so meaningful. However, M.C. Escher pieces, while certainly abstract and confusing, do not give that same feeling. Even though someone might not understand an M.C. Escher piece, there is still that intuitive knowing that there is some meaning, some significance to his works. This significance, this meaningfulness, however, is often lost on many people who view a Pollock
