The Two Cultures
Memes concerning science and art, how they approach reality, how they are different, and how they are similar.
Folksonomies: science art two cultures
Memes
03 JUN 2016
Liberal Arts Majors in Technical Professions
While we’ve hired many computer-science majors that have been critical team members, It’s noncomputer science degree holders who can see the forest through the trees. For example, our chief operating officer is a brilliant, self-taught engineer with a degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago. He has risen above the code to lead a team that is competitive globally. His determination and critical-thinking skills empower him to leverage the power of technology without getting bo...
1 
Reminds me of my own career graduating with an English Degree and going into Computer Programming.
10 DEC 2013
The Humanities are About "Inwardness"
It is the irreducible reality of inwardness, and its autonomy as a category of understanding, over which Pinker, in his delirium of empirical research, rides roughshod. The humanities are the study of the many expressions of that inwardness. Pinker’s condescension to the humanities is endless. He proposes for the humanities “a consilience with science,” but the only apparent beneficiary of such an arrangement would be the humanities, since they have nothing much to offer the sciences, w...
1 Argument for why they cannot be reconciled with science.
10 DEC 2013
How Science Enriches our Lives
The most obvious is the exhilarating achievement of scientific knowledge itself. We can say much about the history of the universe, the forces that make it tick, the stuff we’re made of, the origin of living things, and the machinery of life, including our own mental life. Better still, this understanding consists not in a mere listing of facts, but in deep and elegant principles, like the insight that life depends on a molecule that carries information, directs metabolism, and replicates i...The creation of knowledge and improving our quality of life.
29 JAN 2013
The Problem with the Term "Music Theory"
Music Theory. You will forgive me for turning, as I always do in moments of intellectual want, to my Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, which defines the word "theory" as, and we quote, "The analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another." My friends, few words offer as much rational solace as does the word "theory." Examining the plausibility of a theory demands that we analyze facts, reason logically, think objectively, and examine comprehensively. Having done so, we will assumab..."Theory" implies facts and scientific understanding through observation and testing. Music is an art, filled with idiosyncrasies, and no hard rules.
23 JUN 2012
Science is Poetry
[L]et us not overlook the further great fact, that not only does science underlie sculpture, painting, music, poetry, but that science is itself poetic. The current opinion that science and poetry are opposed is a delusion. ... On the contrary science opens up realms of poetry where to the unscientific all is a blank. Those engaged in scientific researches constantly show us that they realize not less vividly, but more vividly, than others, the poetry of their subjects. Whoever will dip into ...Exploration of nature inspires poetry and art.
23 JUN 2012
Why is Scientific Illiteracy Considered Acceptable?
A good many times I have been present at gatherings of people who, by the standards of the traditional culture, are thought highly educated and who have with considerable gusto been expressing their incredulity at the illiteracy of scientists. Once or twice I have been provoked and have asked the company how many of them could describe the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The response was cold: it was also negative. Yet I was asking something which is about the scientific equivalent of: Have you...When failing to read Shakespeare is considered unacceptable?
22 JUN 2012
Museums are Cathedrals
Museums are, in a way, the cathedrals of the modern world, places where sacred issues are expressed and where people come to reflect on them. A museum is also a kind of bridge between the academy and the public. And a bridge between the academic elite and the public.
11 JUN 2012
Composing Poetry is Like Science
A poet is, after all, a sort of scientist, but engaged in a qualitative science in which nothing is measurable. He lives with data that cannot be numbered, and his experiments can be done only once. The information in a poem is, by definition, not reproducible. ... He becomes an equivalent of scientist, in the act of examining and sorting the things popping in [to his head], finding the marks of remote similarity, points of distant relationship, tiny irregularities that indicate that this one...Where nothing is measurable.
29 MAY 2012
Goethe on Poetry and Science
As for what I have done as a poet, I take no pride in whatever. Excellent poets have lived at the same time with me, poets more excellent lived before me, and others will come after me. But that in my country I am the only person who knows the truth in the difficult science of colors-of that, I say, I am not a little proud, and here have a consciousness of superiority to many. He is more proud of his scientific achievements than his poetry fame.
30 JAN 2012
Art Imitates Nature
The function of Art is to imitate Nature in her manner of operation. Our understanding of "her manner of operation" changes according to advances in the sciences.And our understanding of nature changes through science. So science informs art.
28 JAN 2012
Science and Art, the Few and the Many
In science, address the few; in literature, the many. In science, the few must dictate opinion to the many; in literature, the many, sooner or later, force their judgement on the few. But the few and the many are not necessarily the few and the many of the passing time: for discoverers in science have not un-often, in their own day, had the few against them; and writers the most permanently popular not unfrequently found, in their own day, a frigid reception from the many. By the few, I mean ...Folksonomies: communication two cultures
Folksonomies: communication two cultures
Interesting way to frame a difference between the two as they relate to their audiences.
14 SEP 2011
Science Cannot be Celebrated With Poetry
The true men of action in our time, those who transform the world, are not the politicians and statesmen, but the scientists. Unfortunately poetry cannot celebrate them because their deeds are concerned with things, not persons, and are, therefore, speechless. When I find myself in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes.Because science deals with things and not persons.
14 SEP 2011
Science VS Art
The subject matter of the scientist is a crowd of natural events at all times; he presupposes that this crowd is not real but apparent, and seeks to discover the true place of events in the system of nature. The subject matter of the poet is a crowd of historical occasions of feeling recollected from the past; he presupposes that this crowd is real but should not be, and seeks to transform it into a community. Both science and art are primarily spiritual activities, whatever practical applica...What the two have in common and the different ways they approach the world.
12 SEP 2011
Art and Science Require Both Creativity and Rationality
How often people speak of art and science as though they were two entirely different things, with no interconnection. An artist is emotional, they think, and uses only his intuition; he sees all at once and has no need of reason. A scientist is cold, they think, and uses only his reason; he argues carefully step by step, and needs no imagination. That is all wrong. The true artist is quite rational as well as imaginative and knows what he is doing; if he does not, his art suffers. The true sc...Art without rationality is lame, science without creativity is less innovative. Stereotypes of artists and scientists are unrealistic.
28 MAY 2011
Carl Sagan Punished for Popularizing Science
Yet instead, Sagan was punished by the scientific community for his public endeavors. The persecution began as early as the 1960s, when Harvard University denied him tenure. Nobel laureate Harold Urey, a chemist who had previously served as one of Sagan's mentors, helped quash his chances with a nasty letter objecting to Sagan's budding media and outreach efforts. His outreach efforts were used against Sagan's pursuit of tenure at Harvard.
19 APR 2011
Art and Science Both Recreate Reality
The discoveries of science, the works of art are explorations — more, are explosions, of a hidden likeness. The discoverer or the artist presents in them two aspects of nature and fuses them into one. This is the act of creation, in which an original thought is born, and it is the same act in original science and original art. But it is not therefore the monopoly of the man who wrote the poem or who made the discovery. On the contrary, I believe this view of the creative act to be tion. The......and both make the heart skip a beat with the effort.
19 APR 2011
Mathematicians Do Math for Its Own Sake
4- As an example, consider the practice of mathematics. Mathematics is in the first place a language in which we discuss those parts of the real world which can be described by numbers or by similar relations of order. But with the workaday business of translating the facts into this language there naturally goes, in those who are good at it, a pleasure in the activity itself. They find the language richer than its bare content; what is translated comes to mean less to them than the logic and...They work the art as if it were poetry, much of it without practical application, but for the beauty of mathematics.
References
03 JUN 2016
Why I Was Wrong About Liberal-Arts Majors
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article: Kalt, David (Jun 1, 2016), Why I Was Wrong About Liberal-Arts Majors, Retrieved on 2016-06-03Source Material [blogs.wsj.com]
Folksonomies: two cultures liberal arts
Folksonomies: two cultures liberal arts
1 
10 DEC 2013
Crimes Against Humanities Now science wants to invade the...
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article: Wieseltier, Leon (September 3, 2013), Crimes Against Humanities Now science wants to invade the liberal arts. Don't let it happen., New Republic, Retrieved on 2013-12-10Source Material [www.newrepublic.com]
2
10 DEC 2013
Science Is Not Your Enemy An impassioned plea to neglecte...
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article: Pinker, Steven (August 6, 2013), Science Is Not Your Enemy An impassioned plea to neglected novelists, embattled professors, and tenure-less historians, New Republic, Retrieved on 2013-12-10Source Material [www.newrepublic.com]
4
29 JAN 2013
Understanding the Fundamentals of Music
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Greenberg , Robert (2007), Understanding the Fundamentals of Music, Retrieved on 2013-01-29Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: music music theory
Folksonomies: music music theory
2
23 JUN 2012
Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Spencer , Herbert (1865), Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical, Retrieved on 2012-06-23Source Material [books.google.com]
1
23 JUN 2012
The Two Cultures
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Snow , C. P. and Collini , Stefan (2012-03-26), The Two Cultures, Retrieved on 2012-06-23Source Material [books.google.com]
1
22 JUN 2012
The Legacy of the Great War
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Winter , Jay (2009-10-26), The Legacy of the Great War, University of Missouri, Retrieved on 2012-06-22Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: history
Folksonomies: history
1
11 JUN 2012
The medusa and the snail
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Thomas , Lewis (1995-02-01), The medusa and the snail, Penguin Group USA, Retrieved on 2012-06-11Source Material [books.google.com]
1
29 MAY 2012
Conversations with Goethe in the last years of his life
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Goethe , Johann Wolfgang von and Eckermann , Johann Peter (1839), Conversations with Goethe in the last years of his life, Retrieved on 2012-05-29Source Material [books.google.com]
2
30 JAN 2012
A year from Monday
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Cage , John (1969), A year from Monday, Wesleyan Univ Pr, Retrieved on 2012-01-30Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: art
Folksonomies: art
1
28 JAN 2012
Caxtoniana: a series of essays on life, literature, and m...
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Lytton , Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton (1864), Caxtoniana: a series of essays on life, literature, and manners, Retrieved on 2012-01-28Source Material [books.google.com]
Folksonomies: literature
Folksonomies: literature
1
14 SEP 2011
The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Auden , W. H. (1989-12), The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays, Vintage Books/Random House, Retrieved on 2011-09-14
Folksonomies: essays
Folksonomies: essays
2
12 SEP 2011
'Prometheus.' The Roving Mind
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Asimov, Isaac and Clarke , Arthur C. (1997-12), 'Prometheus.' The Roving Mind, Prometheus Books, Retrieved on 2011-09-12
1
28 MAY 2011
Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens...
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Mooney, Chris and Kirshenbaum , Sheril (2009-07-13), Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future, Basic Books, Retrieved on 2011-05-28
10
19 APR 2011
Science and Human Values
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Bronowski , Jacob (1965), Science and Human Values, Faber and Faber, Retrieved on 2011-04-19
17
