everything.study
ES.258

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Undergraduate · Historical course

Spring 2007

How are math, art, music, and language intertwined? How does intelligent behavior arise from its component parts? Can computers think? Can brains compute? Douglas Hofstadter probes very cleverly at these questions and more in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, "Gödel, Escher, Bach". In this seminar, we will read and discuss the book in depth, taking the time to solve its puzzles, appreciate the Bach pieces that inspired its dialogues, and discover its hidden tricks along the way.

Readings

  • Hofstadter, Douglas. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1999. ISBN: 9780465026562.
    Listed reading
  • In this list, each chapter of the book is associated with a musical piece that the instructor chose to accompany it. The pieces by J. S. Bach are labelled with their BWV catalog number.
    Listed reading
  • 13. Aria with Diverse Variations - This chapter refers extensively to the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988), an extensive set of variations on an aria. The 30th and final variation is a straightforward statement of the theme called the Quodlibet, after which the variations continue on with a “post-ending ending”, the Finale.
    Listed reading
  • Hofstadter, Douglas R., and Clément Marot. Le Ton Beau De Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language . New York, NY: Basic Books 1998, chapter 5. ISBN: 9780465086450.
    Listed reading
  • Chapters from: Hofstadter, Douglas. Metamagical Themas . New York, NY: Basic Books, 1996. ISBN: 9780465045662. (Toward the end of the class): A Coffeehouse Conversation on the Turing Test and Who Shoves Whom Around Inside the Careenium?
    Listed reading
  • Hofstadter, Douglas. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid . New York, NY: Basic Books, 1999. ISBN: 9780465026562.
    Listed reading
Sources