How language -- its clarity, immediacy, and nuance -- is vital to both patients and doctors, for it can overcome the split between scientific specialization and the experience of suffering. From the article: Many of the great doctors have been writers, and those who have not have required writers to set down their insights. Hippocrates, Galen, [...]
Has the age of the encyclopedic excellence passed us by, or can (or should) it be revived? The author praises the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica (1910-11) as "the last great encyclopedia." From the editorial: Its greatness derived not alone from its contributors or its organization but from the spirit infusing it. This spirit [...]
The Mirror of Philosophers, and Science: A.J. Ayer speaks about philosophers' common qualities, in relation to the sciences. From the interview: "Wittgenstein was interested in fundamental philosophical problems, Austin in language for its own sake," Ayers said. Yet Austin, despite Gellner, was not a linguist, in any ordinary sense of the word; he was interested [...]
Humanities fed the soul in communist Romania: how the study of the humanities kept people alive, and allowed them to find truth when surrounded by falsehood. From the article: When I heard this story, I understood that the stereotype of the fluffy, useless liberal arts was a lie. If the study of literature or history [...]
The joy of reading: can reading offer therapy to those in distress and provide a greater sense of well-being? From the article: For all avid readers who have been self-medicating with great books their entire lives, it comes as no surprise that reading books can be good for your mental health and your relationships with others, [...]
The virtues (and folly) of science and scholarship: learning merits its laurels, but to what ends, if life (and self-knowledge) is neglected? “Envy, curiosity, and a sense of the imperfection of our present state, incline us to estimate the advantages which are in the possession of others above their real value. Every one must have remarked, [...]
An encounter with Renaissance art, and its consequence: Boris Pasternak reflects on culture and individual genius. The chief thing that everyone carries away from an encounter with Italian art is the sensation of the tangible unity of our culture, whatever he may have seen this in, and whatever name he may give it. How much [...]
Science, religion, and truth: Rabindranath Tagore speaking with Albert Einstein, Berlin 1930: Truth, which is one with the universal being, must be essentially human; otherwise, whatever we individuals realize as true, never can be called truth. At least, the truth which is described as scientific and which only can be reached through the process of logic—in [...]
A scientist reads the book of life, without annotations, but through imagery To read the book of life can be a great delight and an edifying experience; but only if one abstains from decorating every page with annotations in the margins and with corrections, and, even more importantly, from tearing them out and throwing [...]
Did Newton practice junk science? A journalist takes issue with Newton's preoccupation with alchemy. As she puts it: ... Newton was super into alchemy, a medieval "science" that preceded chemistry. Practitioners believed it was possible to transform one metal into another. The ultimate goal was figuring out how to transform lead into gold, and the elusive [...]
