Edited May 30th, 2017 Re: Feynman’s ‘Ode to a Flower’ (youtube): Artist’s friend’s psychological conflation of descriptive ‘knowledge’ and instruction as to psychological stance. Feynman’s failure of an empathic mode of inter- subjectivity to his friend. The friend’s similar failure. Hence an antagonism-go-round that fails to affirm the legitimacy of the other’s differentiated self. Music and Meaning: A reply to Peter Kivy Initiated summer 2014 Abstract Peter Kivy (2007, Music, Language, and Cognition, pg. 137-153) argues against musical meaning on grounds that propositional meaning foundationally is the province primarily of shared language. I argue that the logical possibility of linguistic meaning, and thus of language as a personal and social good, is afforded by intellectual and motivational empathy , both for self and others.