Art, science, and creativity

Art stimulated my early interest in science. Chesley Bonestell's stunning paintings envisioning Earth from orbit, the first manned rockets and space station, and the human exploration of the moon and Mars, published in giant full-color double-page spreads in Collier's magazine in the early 1950s, inspired my interest in science and space. Fiction, specifically science fiction, did much the same.

Later, as I gained a deeper appreciation for the humanities in all their richness, science, art, literature, and music all seemed complementary, mutually reinforcing human expressions of people's minds and emotions--the quest to know, the exploration and sharing of life, love, grief, anguish, and all the tumultuous aspects of the human condition. Understanding nature and human nature are intertwined. Science and the humanities employ tools arising out of human intelligence and the human imagination to help us understand ourselves and get at essential mysteries and truths of existence. Shakespeare and Darwin illuminate equally. A book, a painting, a stimulating piece of music, a morning in a science museum, an afternoon in an art museum all make for a rewarding, enlightening day.

Jacob Bronowski recognized all this and successfully brought his vision of these overlapping enterprises to the public in his television series and book The Ascent of Man, which, he wrote, "presents a philosophy rather than a history, and a philosophy of nature rather than of science.... There cannot be a philosophy, there cannot even be a decent science, without humanity.... For me, the understanding of nature has as its goal the understanding of human nature, and of the human condition within nature."

Carl Sagan followed with his Cosmos series and poetic science books that always expressed an enormous aesthetic sense, many including beautiful works of art. Stephen Jay Gould, in his essays, likewise mined broad intellectual and cultural interests far beyond science (history, opera, baseball). E.O. Wilson calls for consilience.

The interactions go every which way. Science inspires art; performers such as the innovative Blue Man Group draw on science and technology to surprise, stun, and delight the senses. I once heard the late Robert Moog, of synthesizer fame, tell an audience of scientists and engineers that his synthesizer merely follows in a long tradition in the history of music, which has always adapted the latest technologies.

This special issue of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER explores all manner of fruitful interactions among--and insights about--science and the humanities. I was delighted a year ago when our esteemed colleague and contributing editor Austin Dacey proposed the issue and volunteered to guest edit it. See his introduction on page 21. I was pleased even more recently when I read all the contributions for the first time. Stephen Pinker's lead article exemplifies the topic, as does his own scientific work in language, cognition, and evolution. The other contributors, all notable figures, bring unique insights about art and science and creativity to their work and to the public. I found many wonderful surprises here. I trust you will too.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning