Art is Us; Science is the Rest of the World
When I think of science, I think of evolution, the Big Bang theory, the periodic table, and an interesting thing called DNA. Whenever I think of those things, I think of things that I can only dream of fully understanding or I can’t completely control. To some, science is comforting in its exactness, or the illusion of exactness it has. But to me, science has always been more than a little intimidating because it seems to know so much that we don’t or haven’t yet discovered. Science to me seems impersonal – fascinating in its knowledge – but impersonal and far too objective, nonetheless. Mind you, my aversion to science could be directly proportional to how well I’m doing in my Chemistry class, so this might be just a little biased.
All joking aside though, I do see the logic of using science over art to explain the world around us. Whether or not I prefer this method is yet to be discovered, as I am still at the point where my knowledge of both is limited and immature. However, since this topic has a majority response of preferring science to art, I’d like to take art’s side on this one, just for the purpose of argument. So, let’s open our eyes for a bit and take out the inner idealist within us.
Art is something that comes from within a person. It’s personal, a piece of that individual’s mind, spirit, and vision. In a way, art is our way of controlling our surroundings and the very world that we live in. Art gives us the opportunity to see things the way we want and show the rest of the world what we see, even if it isn’t logical or quantifiable. I feel like this topic goes back to the discussion of truth, and what side of truth we see when we look at art. Is science always the true way? Will science always give us the truth? Sometimes I don’t think science even comes close, but that’s going to lead me to talks of spirituality and such, and we don’t want to go there now. What I’m saying is, science might be easier to accept because of its numbers and laws, but I feel like sometimes art knows what’s going on with the human condition and in the world we live in better than we do. It might be a visceral knowledge, something we can’t explain, but it could provide answers that are more innately human.
Art is our way of explaining things, a chance for us to write the rules for once. It’s our internal locus of control in a world otherwise rife with uncontrollables. An artist can say, “I want this nose on top of the ear, because that’s how I see it in my head,” and we can’t argue the truth to that, because who are we to argue with the world of someone else’s dreams and imagination? We have to accept the fact that there are things in this world that we can’t explain. Science may come close in explaining the whys and hows of it, but I think art can also explain it but in more instinctive and universal way.
Since science has proven to be more prolific in its explanations and more convincing in its arguments, for now art has to take a back seat. Until the time when hearts can be decoded and thoughts can be opened freely, art will remain the second choice in explaining the workings of our surroundings.
