Re: [Leica] Soapbox discussion about art and science- was PHDQualifications!

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

Again, Touché!
Sounds like a confirmation of Jonathan's insight!
Thanks!
Dan
- ----- Original Message -----
From: Alan Brown <abrown@ncsi.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 1999 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Soapbox discussion about art and science- was
PHDQualifications!


> >Dan,
> >
> >> Well, I seemed to has misstated my point- I meant SCIENCE and the
search
> >for
> >> basic knowledge- to compare artists such as Weston, Adams, et al. is
again
> >> an argument of Apples and Oranges!
> >> They didn't further knowledge, scientifically speaking; Their
subjective
> >> view of the world was what made them so wonderful. The could 'see' and
at
> >> the same time, through their eyes, help US see the world in ways that
we
> >had
> >> never seen it. That was their appeal, to our affect, our emotions. They
> >were
> >> not scientists, per se, but visionaries who saw the world differently,
and
> >> helped us see it the same way.
> >
> >    To help us see the world differently is the mark of the highest level
of
> >science. The classic examples are Newtonian mechanics which helped the
world
> >understand the motion of the planets around the sun and then Einstein who
> >changed this world-view. Other examples are Darwin and then Watson and
Crick
> >who have changed the world-view with respect to the origin of the species
> >(and humanity). The world-view is a central notion of science and hence
> >comparison to Weston, Adams et al. is quite relevent.
> >
> >    Science is more about changing the world-view using theories
validated
> >by evidence than it is about increasing a volume of facts. There is often
> >alot of art in good science and alot of science in good art.
> >
> >Jonathan Borden
>
> Guys and gals,
>
> If you are interested in this general topic I recommend "Art and Physics"
> by Leonard Shlain who is a San Francisco surgeon.  To quote from the
promo:
> "Art interprets the visible world, physics charts its unseen workings--and
> so the two realms seem completely opposed.  But in this brilliant piece of
> cultural detective work, Leonard Shlain tracks their breakthroughs side by
> side throughout history to reveal an astonishing coincidence of visions.
> From the classical Greek sculptors to Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, and
> from Aristotle to Einstein, artist soreshadow the discoveries of
> scientists, sometimes by more than a century."
>
> Interesting reading.
>
> Alan Brown
>
>