Science and Knowledge
"Science is built of facts the way a house is built of bricks: but an accumulation of facts is no more science than a pile of bricks is a house" (Henri Poincare).
Although bricks are the basic essentials of constructing a house, a house is not purely made out of bricks. Through simply stacking bricks on top of each other will not lead to a house. Without a proper foundation and something to stick the bricks together, it is likely that the house will collapse. In accordance with Poincare’s statement, science is quite similar to the idea of a house. With only the knowledge of facts and formulas, and no connections in between them, they are quite useless. This metaphor applies to other areas of knowledge, such as the arts, as well. A painting is built of strokes; a song is built of notes, but without the “cement” to connect the strokes and notes, art cease to exist.
At first glance, science and art seem to be the most repulsive areas of knowledge, in the way that they are the opposite of each other in every aspect. Science consists of objective facts while art conveys subjective ideas. Science requires hard evidences while art encompasses the imagination of the mind. Science is reason while art is emotions. Yet, even with all these polar opposite qualities, science and are not quite different in their format.
As stated, Science comprises of facts and hard evidences. However, the simple compilation of these evidences does not create science, just like the stacking of bricks does not make a house. It is after connecting the dots, stringing the facts, gluing together the pieces that when science begins to take place. The “how” and the “why” need to be understood just as the design of the house need to be drawn out before beginning to build the house. This is where reason comes in; it is through reasoning that one can piece together the scientific puzzles.
Art almost works in a parallel way. Although it can be argued, but generally, the plain
Although bricks are the basic essentials of constructing a house, a house is not purely made out of bricks. Through simply stacking bricks on top of each other will not lead to a house. Without a proper foundation and something to stick the bricks together, it is likely that the house will collapse. In accordance with Poincare’s statement, science is quite similar to the idea of a house. With only the knowledge of facts and formulas, and no connections in between them, they are quite useless. This metaphor applies to other areas of knowledge, such as the arts, as well. A painting is built of strokes; a song is built of notes, but without the “cement” to connect the strokes and notes, art cease to exist.
At first glance, science and art seem to be the most repulsive areas of knowledge, in the way that they are the opposite of each other in every aspect. Science consists of objective facts while art conveys subjective ideas. Science requires hard evidences while art encompasses the imagination of the mind. Science is reason while art is emotions. Yet, even with all these polar opposite qualities, science and are not quite different in their format.
As stated, Science comprises of facts and hard evidences. However, the simple compilation of these evidences does not create science, just like the stacking of bricks does not make a house. It is after connecting the dots, stringing the facts, gluing together the pieces that when science begins to take place. The “how” and the “why” need to be understood just as the design of the house need to be drawn out before beginning to build the house. This is where reason comes in; it is through reasoning that one can piece together the scientific puzzles.
Art almost works in a parallel way. Although it can be argued, but generally, the plain