Week 1: Two Cultures

Like C.P. Snow, I live between the “two cultures.” I study mathematics, what most consider the stark opposite of the humanities. But I have close friends in both the humanities and the sciences from whom I often hear subtle jabs about the other group’s ignorance, or as C.P. Snow likes to put it, their “tone-deafness”. I’ve gotten along with both groups by the unique nature of my field. From a young age, I’ve always first spoke of mathematics as an art form and philosophy to be admired and second as a science, which has provided me credibility from both groups. My friends from the humanities needed more convincing, and I first led them to a talk by Ray Monk who describes math as a true philosophy. I led them next to the endless geometrical possibilities of breathtaking modular origami. This took them by surprise, as they had never considered a relation between origami, math, and beauty. By then, they were convinced.

It’s the system that treats education as a bunch of separated domains from an early age: math class, then English, then science, etc., where each of these classes are taught as unrelated topics. By early high school you start receiving questions about the specialization you’ll pursue in college. This obsession with specialty is a part of the current educational paradigm that requires fixing, according to Sir Ken Robinson. C.P. Snow also makes note of this, saying that education produces a “tiny élite” educated in a single skill. But if we could combine these domains, we could make great headway. In an interview with Professor of Psychology Steve Pinker, he mentions several examples where discourse between the two cultures could have meaningful impact in the growth of each field. But there an ocean-wide ego gap, as Snow says, preventing them from engaging in discourse.

This divide extends beyond the humanities and sciences. There are cultural cleavages within STEM where chemists hold stereotypes against physicists who hold stereotypes against geologists and so on, preventing the formation of a collaborative atmosphere. Professor Bill Schopf, a world-renowned paleobiologist at UCLA, often mentions how hyperspecialized academics tend to isolate themselves from others who are outside of their niche fields. In his memoires, Schopf writes about the necessity of having an interdisciplinary group of researchers in the search for the oldest fossils on Earth. Schopf’s team proved incredibly successful.

Images from top to bottom: C.P. Snow, Ray Monk, snapshot portraying the academic specialization required in schools from Changing Education Paradigms, Bill Schopf

Works Cited

Monk, Ray, director. Intro to the Philosophy of Mathematics (Ray Monk). YouTube, Philosophy Overdose, 21 Aug. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqGXdh6zb2k.

Pinker, Steven, director. SEEDMAGAZINE.COM Two Cultures Steven Pinker. YouTube, 18 May 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BUbVc7qVpg&t=13s.

“Professor Ray Monk.” Professor Ray Monk | Philosophy | University of Southampton, www.southampton.ac.uk/philosophy/about/staff/rm.page. Robinson, Ken, director. RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms. YouTube, RSA, 14 Oct. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&t=414s.

Schopf, J. William. Life in Deep Time: Darwin's "Missing" Fossil Record. Taylor & Francis, 2019.

The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, by C. P. Snow, Cambridge University Press, 1959, pp. 1–23.

Wikipedia contributors. "C. P. Snow." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 19 Mar. 2021. Web. 19 Apr. 2021.

“William Schopf.” UCLA, epss.ucla.edu/people/faculty/594/.