Denis Fodor writes:

>Even accomplished experimetnal physicists don't always agree on theories
>that lay claim to objectivity.  A sonata is an object; what a person thinks
>of it is subjective.

Science aims for some public agreement.  This is, I believe, the key to
the concept of objectivity.  The first step is to obtain agreement on
experimental results.  The harder step is to forge agreement about the
meaning of the results.  Sometimes it never comes, but that is the goal.

Clearly the description of a musical work can be objective- the key, the
form, the tempo, etc.  But I think that the achievement of agreement on
the meaning of the work, the response it elicits from listeners, is way
more elusive- probably impossible.  not even a goal to be worked toward.

I need hardly add that I do not think that the meaning of music, the
ability of music to communicate, etc, is in any way inferior to the
approaches of science.  Just different.  Vive la difference.  Bernard
Chasan

Professor Bernard Chasan
Physics Department, Boston University