Week 1: Two Cultures
Before
taking this class I never thought in depth between the divide of arts and
science. When I think of the difference between two cultures I associate science
with a definite answer and art with imagination and your own personal interpretation.
The readings by Wilson and Snow this week helped clarify and clear up those
stereotypes. Thinking back to when art
and science separated for me had to have been in middle school. There was the
art wheel or the language wheel. Then we had separate science and math classes.
They were never merged together into one. From this point on I considered art
and science separated. There is also this divide in high school and even at
UCLA. There is South campus with science and North campus is arts. Personally,
I have had some of my science classes in the North part of campus and vice
versa so although it is said to have this stereotype and the majority of
classes are separated this way campus is not completely segregated with regards
to arts and science.
Sculpture garden=North
campus
South Campus=math/sciences
Kevin
Kelly brings up the point that a third culture has emerged recently. This is
the popular culture based in technology and it has been embedded into our
society and culture immensely. The readings this week have portrayed the
differences between the two cultures although it has opened my eyes to see the
large amount of overlap between the two. Kelly states, "The purpose of
science is to pursue the truth of the universe. Likewise, the aim of the arts
is to express the human condition". Kelly emphasizes the rise of this
third culture “technology” which our generation is significantly affected by
daily and is slowly but surely taking over.
(photo above off google, http://weheartit.com/entry/135263283)
Our culture has these so-called “artsy” blogs and Tumblr and Instagram are two that come
to mind first where people are able to share their work. Ultimately,
I think that these two cultures overlap and compliment each other. Thanks to
the third “technology’ culture that Kelly demonstrates in his reading the arts
culture is able to display their work to the world on the Internet.
Citations:
Snow, C. P. “Two
Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York:
Cambridge UP, 1961. Print.
Wilson, Stephen D. “Myths
and Confusions in Thinking about Art/Science/Technology.”
College Art Association Meetings. New York, New York, 2000.
Print
Kelly, Kevin.
"The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web.
Feb. 1998
I totally agree with you that technology is taking over the society that we are living in. While there are so many benefits to technology that affect both "cultures" of science and art that are being talked about in these two articles, I think that there are also negatives that accompany them. I think you make a great point when you talk about how the divide between North and South campus majors is very clear and that you have noticed it from personal experiences. I think that it is an excellent example of how these cultures can coexist but also have an underlying competition between them.
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