When Science Meets Arts
Outlook|July 11, 2023
A good liberal arts education allows the student to flit between disciplines before settling into one
Saikat Majumdar
When Science Meets Arts

HERE is my key advice to smart and ambitious young people in 21st-century India:

“If you are attracted to different subjects, don’t choose between them. Go for them both.” Feeling torn between disparate subjects is the best possible thing. It is a mark of genuine liveliness and curiosity. It is such a good thing that I recommend it to everyone. To those of you who don’t feel torn between incompatible things—those who know what you love and are monogamous about it—try to cultivate a disciplinary field that is quite different from, even incompatible with your primary interest.

Contra-disciplinarity is the best model of liberal ‘art-science’ education. It is also its exciting future. Dual majors such as computer science and english, or music and computer science embody high models of contra-disciplinary education. Philosophy and physics might form a similar pair, as old as it is new, a timeless classic. Their shared interest in explaining the universe is split between the natural, the human, and the spiritual. Between concrete reality through the senses and larger patterns that appear as abstract—between experience and data on one hand, and theory on the other, both moving toward the latter through the means of mathematics—the ultimate symbolic system of abstract language.

This story is from the July 11, 2023 edition of Outlook.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the July 11, 2023 edition of Outlook.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM OUTLOOKView All
Trump's White House 'Waapsi'
Outlook

Trump's White House 'Waapsi'

Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election may very well mean an end to democracy in the near future

time-read
6 mins  |
November 21, 2024
IMT Ghaziabad hosted its Annual Convocation Ceremony for the Class of 2024
Outlook

IMT Ghaziabad hosted its Annual Convocation Ceremony for the Class of 2024

Shri Suresh Narayanan, Chairman Managing Director of Nestlé India Limited, congratulated and motivated graduates at IMT Ghaziabad's Convocation 2024

time-read
2 mins  |
November 21, 2024
Identity and 'Infiltrators'
Outlook

Identity and 'Infiltrators'

The Jharkhand Assembly election has emerged as a high-stakes political contest, with the battle for power intensifying between key players in the state.

time-read
1 min  |
November 21, 2024
Beyond Deadlines
Outlook

Beyond Deadlines

Bibek Debroy could engage with even those who were not aligned with his politics or economics

time-read
2 mins  |
November 21, 2024
Portraying Absence
Outlook

Portraying Absence

Exhibits at a group art show in Kolkata examine existence in the absence

time-read
4 mins  |
November 21, 2024
Of Rivers, Jungles and Mountains
Outlook

Of Rivers, Jungles and Mountains

In Adivasi poetry, everything breathes, everything is alive and nothing is inferior to humans

time-read
5 mins  |
November 21, 2024
Hemant Versus Himanta
Outlook

Hemant Versus Himanta

Himanta Biswa Sarma brings his hate bandwagon to Jharkhand to rattle Hemant Soren’s tribal identity politics

time-read
5 mins  |
November 21, 2024
A Smouldering Wasteland
Outlook

A Smouldering Wasteland

As Jharkhand goes to the polls, people living in and around Jharia coalfield have just one request for the administration—a life free from smoke, fear and danger for their children

time-read
1 min  |
November 21, 2024
Search for a Narrative
Outlook

Search for a Narrative

By demanding a separate Sarna Code for the tribals, Hemant Soren has offered the larger issue of tribal identity before the voters

time-read
5 mins  |
November 21, 2024
The Historic Bonhomie
Outlook

The Historic Bonhomie

While the BJP Is trying to invoke the trope of Bangladeshi infiltrators”, the ground reality paints a different picture pertaining to the historical significance of Muslim-Adivasi camaraderie

time-read
5 mins  |
November 21, 2024