Conversations inside the Third Culture :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Big Questions: Conversations inside the Third Culture In 1961, C P Snow introduced the idea of the "two cultures", the scientists and the literati, divided by a lack of communication that had been crystallized through academic specialization (1). Thirty years later, John Brockman unveiled the Third Culture as the new face of intellectual life, consisting of scientific thinkers who had ousted the traditional literary scholars in "rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are" (2). He has been criticized for his fragmented vision of intellectual culture, which affords no place to non-scientists in spite of the apparent inability of science to provide answers to the "big questions" that we ask (3). But are we defining these particular questions in a way that excludes science? If these are issues of truly universal significance, then no single discipline can claim monopoly over their interpretation: answers must draw from broader horizons. The scientific optimism of which Brockman boasts has been approached with much cynicism by humanist scholars. Much discomfort arises not from scientists' claims to general truths about the world, but from the assertion of many scientists that their work stops at the process of discovery: science has nothing to do with how politicians choose to apply their ideas (4). Humphrey (5) points out that it is a great cause of anxiety when those who generate knowledge disclaim all responsibility for how that knowledge is put to use, whether in the form of eugenics in the past, weapons of mass destruction in the present, or even possibly thought control in the future (5). Appleyard recognizes that science aspires to be a value-free pursuit of knowledge, but also that such pursuits are inevitably conducted in a value-laden world (4). If scientists refuse any role in shaping these values, then it is for the humanities and social sciences to help us understand the significance of scientific progress (6), whether it is through the way in which we define life, when confronted by abortion and cloning, or how increasingly closely-integrated communication networks have transformed human relations across the expanse of space and time. In this respect, Brockman's scientifically imperialistic conception of intellectual culture lacks the "questions of subjective, of spiritual and of social values" (3) that must lie at its heart.