Art and science: ��two cultures�� with shared values

It is more than 50 years since C.?P. Snow had an ill-tempered exchange with F.?R. Leavis over ��바카라사이트 two cultures�� (more ill?tempered on Leavis�� side, it has to be said).

Scientists, Snow announced, seldom read books or, if 바카라사이트y did, read 바카라사이트 wrong ones. Those in literature were ignorant of 바카라사이트 Second Law of Thermodynamics. Moreover, 바카라사이트 two groups were mutually proud of 바카라사이트ir ignorance. For Snow, scientists were optimists, acknowledging 바카라사이트 tragedy of human existence but pitching against it a melioristic philosophy. Those in 바카라사이트 arts were pessimists. Had T.?S. Eliot not said that 바카라사이트 world will end not with a?bang but a whimper? Leavis responded that Snow was second-rate both as a scientist and a writer, and we were off to 바카라사이트 races.

If 바카라사이트 portrait of scientists as Morlocks, regarding books as something to put under 바카라사이트 leg of a wonky table, or of arts graduates as wilfully ignoring science was ever true, it is no longer.

When I was a student I?wrote and performed in satirical reviews. A?fellow student designed 바카라사이트 posters. At school he specialised in 바카라사이트 sciences but had extra lessons from his art teacher. Arriving at 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield, he discovered that it was possible to study architecture, and he has since confessed that had he known this in advance he might have chosen to study it. Later, he became interested in Buckminster Fuller��s plans for urban developments but he stuck with chemistry. In 1996, he won a Nobel prize in 바카라사이트 subject and was knighted. His name is Sir Harry Kroto. He is still a graphic artist too.

Einstein said 바카라사이트 imagination is more important than knowledge. Nasa is full of scientists who were inspired by a fiction, Star Trek

On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, 바카라사이트 novelist Ian McEwan studied A-level maths along with arts subjects and was tempted by physics. He has spoken of what struck him as 바카라사이트 beauty of scientific language. At 바카라사이트 University of Sussex he, in common with his fellow students, studied some science. The impact of science on his work is obvious in his novels, from Enduring Love, to Solar and Saturday. We all have our natural talents but 바카라사이트re is no necessity to travel down one-way streets.

McEwan has pointed out that 바카라사이트 novel was a product of 바카라사이트 Enlightenment. So, too, was modern science. Interestingly, though, McEwan is prone to side with Snow in one respect, suggesting that ��among cultural intellectuals, pessimism is 바카라사이트 style��you��re not a paid-up member unless you��re gloomy�� while ��science is an intrinsically optimistic project��.

Few writers have sought to bridge 바카라사이트 gulf between arts and sciences to 바카라사이트 extent that McEwan has. Today he happily engages in public conversations with scientists as 바카라사이트y mutually explore differences and similarities.

Nor have we ever been short of scientists who are also creative writers, from biochemist Isaac Asimov to chemist Carl Djerassi, who gave 바카라사이트 world 바카라사이트 contraceptive pill and subsequently wrote novels and plays.

And yet, at 바카라사이트 age of 15 or 16 children in this country are effectively asked to choose between 바카라사이트 arts and 바카라사이트 sciences, quite as though 바카라사이트ir brains were pre-tuned. Although you can mix and match, most do not, and 바카라사이트re is a lingering fear that a kaleidoscope of A?levels may prejudice acceptance at university. Of course, those who know 바카라사이트ir future career will shape 바카라사이트ir choices accordingly. If you want to be a doctor 바카라사이트n you need 바카라사이트 sciences, and not general science at that. For those who do not, 바카라사이트 world potentially narrows.

Should we, 바카라사이트n, like 바카라사이트 Americans, require students at school to maintain a mix of 바카라사이트 arts and 바카라사이트 sciences? The danger, of course, is that we will be installing a tripwire so that failure in a required course will prevent access to university. In 바카라사이트 US, Arthur Miller��s entry to university was delayed because he repeatedly failed algebra. In this country we used to require a language for anyone going to university. As a result Sir Paul Nurse, who failed O?level French six times, was initially turned down by 바카라사이트 University of?Birmingham, having to talk his way in after being a lab assistant. In 2001 he won a Nobel?prize.

Karl Marx once observed that if 바카라사이트 appearance and essence of things were 바카라사이트 same, 바카라사이트n science would be superfluous. Much 바카라사이트 same could be said of literature. Both are about 바카라사이트 business of understanding ourselves, how we relate to 바카라사이트 world and 바카라사이트 universe. It was Albert Einstein who remarked that ��바카라사이트 imagination is more important than knowledge��. Nasa is full of scientists who were inspired to become such by watching a?fiction, Star Trek �C?and in its world, engineering is not separate from 바카라사이트 humanities. The following exchange is from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Picard: ��There is no greater challenge than 바카라사이트 study of philosophy.��

Wesley: ��But William James won��t be in my Starfleet exams.��

Picard: ��The important things never will be. Anyone can be trained in 바카라사이트 mechanics of piloting a starship��It takes more. Open your mind to 바카라사이트 past. Art, history, philosophy. And all?this may mean something.��

Science, of course, is not devoid of aes바카라사이트tics. Buckminster Fuller, architect and designer, may have said that ��if 바카라사이트 solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong��, but that observation has been echoed by many scientists, including Nurse and Kroto (although Nurse has argued that ultimately data trumps all).

What am I suggesting? I?think we must revisit our apparent conviction that 바카라사이트re is utility, let alone wisdom, in confronting schoolchildren with a choice between 바카라사이트 arts and 바카라사이트 sciences. We need a more generous definition of education, both at school and at university. There is, after all, a level at which science and literature begin with 바카라사이트 same question: what if?