Friday, January 02, 2009

The Science versus Art conundrum (Part 2)

The drawbacks

The Artistic Method
An artist, using his creative skills and imagination, creates something beautiful, picturesque. Any work of creation is a work of art. Any scientific theory, any painting or for that matter, any religion is also a work of art. Certain pieces of art become accepted and loved by a large number of people. Then, these pieces of art are followed as the standard de-facto. Over a period in time, people forget the significance of these pieces of art and follow them blindly. Any society or religion is marred by the same problem. People follow religion blindly, not knowing the essence of this piece of creation. And what happens then is a matter known to one and all. Seeing water just in terms of its properties will never let you understand the essence of water.

The mass acceptance of some art causes any opponent or disbeliever to be maligned and seen as an infidel or a man with bad taste. People follow what they do not understand. And in this process of mad blindness, they dont understand the essence of things which forms a further blockade in the very process of creation of art - for art to be created needs understanding of the core and the basics; an understanding of the truth and the essence. Thus, the artistic method creates art which blocks further art from being created! The process impedes itself!

The Scientific Method
The method of science probes into the very basics of things. It tries to delve deep and deep into an issue so that the roots of a problem are reached and then it is finally resolved. But, in the process of this probing, there comes a point where further probing disintegrates the problem itself.

Once, we understand that oxygen and hydrogen combine to form water, probing further to understand water by understanding the properties of oxygen and hydrogen does not work! Beyond a point, analysis fails to bail you out. Rather, it takes you away from the very reality that you wished to know! Once again, the method impedes itself!
(To be continued...)