Human ecology
Magritte links Hofstadter to Foucault
- Hofstadter (1980,
Chapter XX Strange Loops, Or Tangled Hierarchies)
Of all these artists, Magritte was the most conscious of the
symbol-object mystery (which I see as a deep extension of the
use-mention distinction). (p.700) ... Magritte's series of pipe paintings is
fascinating and perplexing. (p.701) ... The only way not to
get sucked in is to see both pipes merely as colored smudges on a
surface a few inches in front of your nose. Then, and only then, do
you appreciate the full meaning of the written message "Ceci n'est
pas une pipe" - but ironically, at the very instant everything turns
into smudges, the writng too turns to smudges, thereby losing its
meaning! In other words, at that instant, the verbal message of the
painting self-destructs in a most Godelian way. (p.701)
- Foucault
- Godel
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Created 31/5/99