- A brief account of the history of logic, from the The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (edited by Ted Honderich), OUP 1997, 497-500.
- A biography of Peter Abelard, published in the Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 115, edited by Jeremiah Hackett, Detroit: Gale Publishing, 3-15.
- Philosophy in the Latin Christian West, 750-1050, in A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, edited by Jorge Gracia and Tim Noone, Blackwell 2003, 32-35.
- Ockham wielding his razor!
- Review of The Beatles Anthology, Chronicle Books 2000 (367pp).
- A brief discussion note about Susan James, Passion and Action: The Emotions in Seventeenth-Century Philosophy.
- Review of St. Thomas Aquinas by Ralph McInerny, University of Notre Dame Press 1982 (172pp). From International Philosophical Quarterly23 (1983), 227-229.
- Review of William Heytesbury on Maxima and Minima by John Longeway, D.Reidel 1984 (x+201pp). From The Philosophical Review 96 (1987), 146-149.
- Review of That Most Subtle Question by D. P. Henry, Manchester University Press 1984 (xviii+337pp). From The Philosophical Review 96 (1987), 149-152.
- Review of Introduction to the Problem of Individuation in the Early Middle Ages by Jorge Gracia, Catholic University of America Press 1984 (303pp). From The Philosophical Review 97 (1988), 564-567.
- Review of Introduction to Medieval Logic by Alexander Broadie, OUP 1987 (vi+150pp). From The Philosophical Review 99 (1990), 299-302.
Monday, December 14, 2009
"Literature and Science" by Aldous Huxley,1963
In these reflections on the relations between art and science, Aldous Huxley attempts to discern the similarities and differences implicit in scientific and literary language, and he offers his opinions on the influence that each discipline exerts upon the other.
Literature and science reflect different aspects of experience. Experience that may be broadly shared, "public" and "objective," is the domain of science, which tries to express these aspects in universal terms, in technical, unambiguous jargon that has operational import. Other areas, personal, private, and in essence unsharable, form the domain of literature. Founded on "raw unconceptualized existence," literature must treat what is unique and unsharable, so that it becomes "a window opening onto the universal," and thus meaningful to others.
It is with concepts such as these that Mr. Huxley opens this short but meaty volume. Literature and science each has its own scope. What relations can exist between them? Modern science represents a world view that takes its place with other explanatory systems which have held man's allegiance in the past. Modern science has worked a vast revolution in thought, way of life, modes of behavior.
Literature and science reflect different aspects of experience. Experience that may be broadly shared, "public" and "objective," is the domain of science, which tries to express these aspects in universal terms, in technical, unambiguous jargon that has operational import. Other areas, personal, private, and in essence unsharable, form the domain of literature. Founded on "raw unconceptualized existence," literature must treat what is unique and unsharable, so that it becomes "a window opening onto the universal," and thus meaningful to others.
It is with concepts such as these that Mr. Huxley opens this short but meaty volume. Literature and science each has its own scope. What relations can exist between them? Modern science represents a world view that takes its place with other explanatory systems which have held man's allegiance in the past. Modern science has worked a vast revolution in thought, way of life, modes of behavior.
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