Week 1: Two Cultures

 

I always took issue with viewing myself as either a right-brained or left-brained thinker when I was growing up. There would be days when I felt I was the stereotypical right-brained creative type while I wrote short stories and played ukulele and still other days where I felt defined by the left-brained analytical thought while I pondered riddles and math. I could never quite decide where I fit in, and I often switched my answer by the day.

 

Image Credit: (3DBear, 2021)

 

 

 

As I grew older, the question became less relevant to my life, and it was never fully resolved. The course of my academic path mirrored this indecision. I began at UCLA as a biology major, then switched to English before taking a forced hiatus. In my time away from UCLA, I earned an Associate’s Degree and Licensure as a Physical Therapist Assistant before finally returning to UCLA to finish my bachelor’s degree as a History Major. 

Image Credit: (ra2 Studio, 2021)

 

It was a light-bulb moment learning about C.P. Snow’s views on the Two (three) Cultures that are pervasive in modern day academia. Aldous Huxley’s assertion that the division between two cultures arose from the specialized use of language for two different purposes also resonated with me. Both cultures purify language in an attempt to better understand different aspects of the world: the physical and the metaphysical, the observable and unobservable. These phenomena are inextricably linked and the pursuit to define both are different sides of the same coin.

Image Credit: (Academy in the Woods, 2021)

 

Image Credits

3DBear. (2021). Left and right human brain concept. www.shutterstock.com. https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/left-right-human-brain-concept-creative-1085940914.

Academy in the Woods. (2021). The blending of Art and Science. Academy in the Woods: Prepare of Possibilities. https://artsacad.net/the-similarities-between-art-and-science/.

ra2 Studio. (n.d.). Young student with thoughtful expression with tangled arrows coming out of her back. www.shutterstock.com. https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-student-thoughtful-expression-tangled-arrows-439006402. 

 

Resources

Pietrangelo, A. (2019, March 8). Left Brain vs. Right Brain: What's the Difference? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/left-brain-vs-right-brain.

Snow, C. P. (1959). The Two Cultures and The Scientific Revolution. The Rede Lecture. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139196949.004 

UC Online. (2012). Two Cultures Part 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNI7dF3DIAM&t=373s.

Williams, C. M. (2009). A Dangerous Divide: The New York Academy of Sciences. nyas. https://www.nyas.org/ebriefings/a-dangerous-divide/?tab=overview.

Wilson, S. (2000). College Art Association Meetings. In Conceptual Information Arts Program (pp. 1–5). San Fransisco, CA; San Franciso State University.