The human ordering of the arts and sciences

TY - CHAP

T1 - The human ordering of the arts and sciences

AU - McLeish, Tom

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Jack Cunningham and Steven Puttick; individual chapters, the contributors. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2019/12/6

Y1 - 2019/12/6

N2 - This chapter begins with reference to the thirteenth-century polymath Robert Grosseteste’s reflections on his own curriculum - the seven ‘Liberal Arts’ of the medieval universities. Grosseteste prefaces the body of his published work on natural philosophy and scientific topics with a remarkable treatise on the seven liberal arts. The arts, for Grosseteste, do not primarily support vocation or employment, but constitute vital virtues that underpin them. Science is increasingly divorced from the notion of creativity - ‘there is no room for imagination in science’ asserted a presenter full face to camera in a BBC science documentary. In particular, the medieval centuries, so foundational to modernism, yet without the stark divisions of humanities and sciences to which modernism had become so strongly wed, present themselves as potential sources for more fruitful reconciliation. The most salient differences in accounts of creativity do not, on close inspection, present themselves aligning across the arts and sciences, nor to distinguish between medieval and modern.

AB - This chapter begins with reference to the thirteenth-century polymath Robert Grosseteste’s reflections on his own curriculum - the seven ‘Liberal Arts’ of the medieval universities. Grosseteste prefaces the body of his published work on natural philosophy and scientific topics with a remarkable treatise on the seven liberal arts. The arts, for Grosseteste, do not primarily support vocation or employment, but constitute vital virtues that underpin them. Science is increasingly divorced from the notion of creativity - ‘there is no room for imagination in science’ asserted a presenter full face to camera in a BBC science documentary. In particular, the medieval centuries, so foundational to modernism, yet without the stark divisions of humanities and sciences to which modernism had become so strongly wed, present themselves as potential sources for more fruitful reconciliation. The most salient differences in accounts of creativity do not, on close inspection, present themselves aligning across the arts and sciences, nor to distinguish between medieval and modern.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105178737&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4324/9780429295973-8

DO - 10.4324/9780429295973-8

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85105178737

SN - 9780429295973

SP - 142

EP - 154

BT - Robert Grosseteste and Theories of Education

A2 - Cunningham, Jack

A2 - Puttick, Steven

PB - Taylor & Francis

ER -