Abstract :
Recent work aimed at establishing a rational, objective basis for aesthetics and the
arts repudiates the division between the ‘two cultures’ which is used politically to
justify marginalization of the arts in education and society. Far from weakening this
cultural division, however, such writing and research has reinforced it. With the aim
of reversing this trend, it is argued that ‘scientism’ is a myth, that objectivity of
knowledge in science is comparable but not superior to that in aesthetics and the
arts, and that polarization of the ‘two cultures’ and marginalization of the arts is
based on ideology, not reason. There is and always has been significant common
ground between art and science, encompassing not only issues of mutual concern
but also modes of enquiry, many of which are far more similar than seems
commonly to be supposed. A consideration of some of the similarities and
differences between art and science shows that there is no fundamental division
between them: both are part of one culture, not paradigms of two. This observation
leads to ideas on the possible re-integration of art and science in education,
particularly through development of observation and common curriculum content.
