Science & Poetic Beauty (original) (raw)
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Aesthetics and Sublime Experiences in Science_AERA Presentation Paper
Due to a historical separation of cognition and emotion, the affective aspects of learning are often seen as trivial in comparison to the more 'essential' cognitive qualities -particularly in the domain of science. As a result of this disconnect feelings of awe, wonder, and astonishment as well as appreciation have been largely ignored in the working lives of scientists. In turn, I believe that science education has not accurately portrayed the world of science to our students. In an effort to bring the affective qualities of science into the science classroom, I have drawn on Dewey's notion of aesthetic experiences along with the philosophical writings of the sublime by Edmund Burke and Immanuel to explore a new construct I have called the "scientific sublime".
A Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry, ed. Neil Roberts (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), 76-88.
This paper examines the role of awe and wonder in scientific practice. Drawing on evidence from psychological research and the writings of scientists and science communicators , I argue that awe and wonder play a crucial role in scientific discovery. They focus our attention on the natural world, encourage open-mindedness, diminish the self (particularly feelings of self-importance), help to accord value to the objects that are being studied, and provide a mode of understanding in the absence of full knowledge. I will flesh out implications of the role of awe and wonder in scientific discovery for debates on the relationship between science and religion. Abraham Heschel argued that awe and wonder are religious emotions because they reduce our feelings of self-importance, and thereby help to cultivate the proper reverent attitude towards God. Yet metaphysical naturalists such as Richard Dawkins insist that awe and wonder need not lead to any theistic commitments for scientists. The awe some scientists experience can be regarded as a form of irreligious spirituality, which is neither a reductive naturalism nor theism. I will attempt to resolve the tension between these views by identifying some common ground.
Review "The Aesthetics of Science. Beauty, imagination and understanding"
The British Journal of Aesthetics, 2021
The publication of The Aesthetics of Science invites to reflect, beyond the range of individual arguments advanced in it, on the general aims that motivate the production of an edited volume like this. There seems to be a spectrum of possible commitments when one addresses the role of aesthetic values in science...
Romanticism and Science Education: Nature as a Poem
European Journal of Philosophy in Arts Education, 2017
This philosophical poetic inquiry argues for relational approaches and creative expression in university science education. Poetic inquiry as a methodology can cultivate connection to the other-than-human world that promotes contemplative practice and a reciprocal relationship with life phenomena under study. Throughout this philosophical inquiry I incorporate my own poems and photography, both as a Romanticism-inspired praxis, and to elucidate the vital importance of an ethical-holistic pedagogy in the current era of human-powered climate change, dramatic species extinction, and habitat destruction. Goethean science, where students understand nature inwardly, offers an alternative to Newtonian science by incorporating the intentionality of phenomenological learning and the development of ecological literacy. If we approach the scientific method with wonder and ethical-ecological holism, we might fully acknowledge our moral responsibility toward the biosphere and all earthly beings.