3.0

Average Course Rating

This course invites you to explore Gödel, Escher, Bach—a book unlike any other. Through its playful dialogues and deep ideas, we’ll discover how recursion, paradox, and self-reference shape mathematics, music, and art. What happens when a system talks about itself? Can logic prove its own limitations? How do Bach’s fugues, Escher’s impossible drawings, and Gödel’s theorems intertwine? In an era of AI and algorithmic reasoning, understanding what formal reasoning is—and isn’t— has never been more important. Through discussion, puzzles, and thought experiments, we’ll engage with Hofstadter’s exploration of logic, computation, and the nature of thought itself. While we won’t cover the entire book, our goal is to dive deeply into its most fascinating ideas—so that by the end, students will be eager to continue the journey on their own. No background in logic or mathematics is required—just curiosity and a willingness to wrestle with complex ideas.