Does our modern society place a greater emphasis on science than arts? The two questions in response to our question were: 1) What is arts? 2) What is science? Our discussion would have lead to an entirely different level, if and only if the “science” and “arts” we proposed was not specifically degree related at the University. Following is a list of branches/types/categories of science/arts to give you a taste of how we almost averted a discussion crisis (just joking, we would like to discuss arts and science in its own dynamics one fine Socrates meeting): • Liberal Arts • Creative Arts • Visual Arts • Literary Arts • Performing Arts • Social Science • Formal Science • Applied Science • Physical Science • Life Science • Soft Science • Pseudoscience Please note that these are not types of arts and science in their completeness but interchangeable words used to describe and categorise. Now that we have established what our discussion was not about, let’s get into what we actually talked about. In Universities (at least in New Zealand, Pakistan and India) the focus is more towards Science degrees. There is more funding available for a biology project compared to an anthropology research. There are better job opportunities available for Statistics graduates compared to Sociology graduates. The science departments are huge and modern whereas the arts department are segregated into a corner as not-so-flash-looking buildings. These are few examples of bias generated from the education system itself. There is another dimension to it as well: Personal choice, family pressure (which of course is indirectly fed by the advertising of the “important” subjects). The reward in philosophy etc. is a bit further away in career compared to an immediate job opportunity if you had done an undergraduate study in maths. To an extent, this shapes our choices to study science subjects. There is a certain air of reputation associated with these subjects as well. In Pakistan, after you had done your schooling you either get into science or commerce. If for some reason your grades are below a certain standardised mark then you are shoved into arts. So, arts is viewed as a subject for “losers”. So, in short the emphasis operationally is on science. The question that stems out of it is: Should our modern society place a greater emphasis on science? Well why not? We have excellent work coming out of scientific researches such as impact of climate change, genetic sequencing or inflationary theory in physics (to name a few) but that does not disqualify the work on domestic violence in social anthropology or the question of morality in philosophy. And what about depression and autism? We have so easily compartmentalised it into neurology and genetics but we keep on forgetting that there is an environmental element to it. You start reading an article on one of these subjects and you can easily label it as coming from either neuroscience or social anthropology. There is hardly any marriage of both the domains to provide an overall picture. What about Literature? What about Philosophy? What about languages? Well, what about them? We do have these areas of study at University level but unless you are passionate about either of these subjects, or been exposed to it before starting at University, you wouldnt have a clue! A biology teacher at High school regarded psychology as pseudoscience and that image of psychology stuck with me for a very long time, until my sister pursued it and my thinking radically changed. There should be equal opportunities provided in both sciences and arts because both these disciplines complement each other. Subjectivity and objectivity are both required to be able to have a better understanding of our world. I will leave you with this beautiful quote: “In scientia veritas, in arte honestas”, translates to “In science truth, in art honour”.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 03:36:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015