“The arts deal in the particular, the individual, and the personal. While the sciences deal in the general, the universal and the collective. ” To what extent does this statement obscure the nature of both areas of knowledge? In examining the ways in which this statement obscures the nature of both areas of knowledge, it is essential to examine the differences and similarities between both areas and determine links between the two. “The arts” as referred to in the statement can be qualified into all subjects of a creative and imaginative nature.
Literature, poetry, fine arts, theatre arts, movies and drama can all be qualified as “the arts. ” This is because all these subjects deal with the creativity and imagination of the human mind. All these areas of knowledge are sensitive to humans’ emotions and their perceptions of their surroundings. The arts can be said to be the areas of knowledge within which Humans attempt to understand the world around them in a passionate and heartfelt manner, letting their thoughts flow to produce works and pieces of an “artistic” nature.
“The sciences” as referred to in the statement can be qualified into all subjects of a practical and logically rational nature. Biology, chemistry, physics, zoology, psychology, botany and all their sub divisions can be qualified as “the sciences. This is because all these subjects deal with practical, every day matters that bring about theories which help us better understand ourselves and our environment. All these areas of knowledge are based on reason, and satisfy the human quest to answering questions of their own existence by providing clear-cut, reliable and proven facts that are the basis for theories which serve as these answers.
The sciences can be said to be the areas of knowledge within which practicality, logic and rationality serve as the foundation to providing theories that enable humans to comprehend their existence and their environment in a coherent manner. In exploring both areas of knowledge with reference to the statement, it is necessary to first establish the history of differences between both areas of knowledge. In their fundamental explanations, as seen above, the arts and the sciences directly contrast one another.
This brings about the traditional opinion of how “sciences” and “arts” are two completely dissimilar areas of knowledge and any links between the two can only be found as differences. Over centuries of dismissing arts and sciences into two completely different corners of knowledge, opinions have been formed by humans about the divisions between both areas of knowledge, as is reflected in the statement. In exploring the impact these set “rules” of separation between both areas of knowledge have on obscuring them, it is essential to determine that they do certainly have basic differences in their fundamental explanations.
There are many exceptions however, which prove that the sciences and the arts are not two completely vast and different areas of knowledge. They are simply, as is explored in the crux of this essay, two different approaches, both of which need to be utilized to better understand and accept the different ways of knowing and different areas of knowledge, linking the two to provide a greater understanding into the theory of knowledge.
