Here, musicologist Berger (fine arts, Stanford Univ.) does nothing less than pull back the reins of postmodernism in favor of what could be called a balanced modernism. Using an approach similar to anthropological functionalism, he probes the purpose of art instead of attempting to describe what art is. To support his arguments, he draws from the major art forms, citing, along the way, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Kant (to name a few). What will probably strike readers most is his conclusion that for art to have meaning, it needs to be interpreted, which requires comparison and thus discrimination.