Surfaces and Essences

Name: Surfaces and Essences
Author: Douglas Hofstadter

by Douglas Hofstadter

Analysis of how abstraction and metaphor shape categorization and cognition

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About the author

Douglas Hofstadter

American cognitive scientist whose Gödel, Escher, Bach won the Pulitzer Prize by weaving together mathematics, music, art, and artificial intelligence into an exploration of consciousness and self-reference. It remains one of the most original popular science books ever written. His later work focused on analogy as the core of cognition.

More by Douglas Hofstadter

Gödel, Escher, BachMeta-explorations of formal systems, consciousness, and strange recursive loops
The Mind's IExploration of consciousness, identity, and self-reference through thought experiments
Metamagical ThemasCollections of essays and scientific discussions on recursive patterns in cognition
Fluid Concepts and Creative AnalogiesTheory of how concepts blend and analogies drive creativity and intelligence