The problem of “the two cultures” is not, in fact, a problem at all. There’s a reason that art and science are distinct. They don’t just work in different ways; they work on different things. Science addresses external reality, which lies outside our minds and makes itself available for objective observation. The arts address our experience of the world; they tell us what reality feels like. That is why the chain of consilience ruptures as we make the leap from material phenomena to the phenomena of art.
‘Jane Austen, Game Theorist’ by Michael Suk-Young Chwe Is a Joke | New Republic
I need to learn more about the “disciples of consilience” and the “science studies hucksters” mentioned here. Would these include Latour and co? I enjoyed the article and can get behind the thrust of it (humanistic knowledge has value in and of itself) but at the same time I am not convinced art and science are distinct to the extent that they do not and should not interact.
