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The Artful Universe: The Cosmic Source of Human Creativity Paperback – September 1, 1996

by John D. Barrow (Author)

8 customer reviews

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In this eclectic and entertaining study of the interrelationship between the arts and the sciences, Barrow explains how the landscape of the Universe has influenced the development of philosophy and mythology, and how millions of years of evolutionary history have fashioned our attraction to certain patterns of sound and color.

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Product details

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Back Bay Books; F First Paperback Edition edition (September 1, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316082422
ISBN-13: 978-0316082426
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 8 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,556,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2865 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Aesthetics
- #15330 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy

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November 20, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book is an odd mixture of the extremely good and the very bad. Barrow is a good writer and a top-notch scientist; this combination comes through best when he sticks to what he knows best, the hard sciences. His discussion of time, astronomy, and geology are extremely informative, including such matters as why the sky is blue and the sun is yellow, why the most common color of berries is red, why the seashell makes the `ocean' sound when you put your ear up to it (you're hearing the sound of your own blood circulating). But now for the bad. When Barrow tries writing about the humanities, things go downhill fast. As with too many scientists opining about the humanities, they present only the most absurdly caricatured view of scholars in this area, as if they were all Lockians believing in the tabula rasa, and also Derrida disciples believing that all knowledge is socially constructed, and that all humanities professors are willfully ignorant and contemptuous of science. To be sure, there are some who are like this, but Barrow needs to get out more and meet humanities professors, and he will find that most are not like this at all. I imagine a reason for this belief is the unwillingness to acknowledge that many humanities professors are not hostile to science, but rather have listened to what scientists have to say about interpreting literature or art and found it simply not very useful. To the overly-defensive scientist perhaps this comes across as hostility, but it should not. And this book is an unfortunate example of how science, even in the hands of an intelligent and accomplished practitioner, has limited usefulness in its application to the arts. Consider for example his `evolutionary' explanation of the role of heroic stories: `they endow life with meaning, they move back the frontier of the unknown, and promote the sense of self-confidence that comes when sense is made of the world'. This statement is typical; it is so vague as to be vapid, it reminds one of something a very bad teacher would say in a high school English class, and anyway it is hard to see why we would need modern biology to teach us these clichés. Nor is it even clear how these are scientific claims: what sort of data could verify or falsify them? Or consider this gem: he `explains' our love of the New England fall colors as a result of our having evolved on the African grasslands, where there is a strong seasonal variation in rainfall. This makes us `sensitive' to seasonal changes, hence `people flock to New Hampshire for the fall.' OK, wait a minute here. We evolved where there are no deciduous trees, and no pronounced seasonal patterns except a wet versus dry season. And this is supposed to explain why we visit an environment about as different from the savannah as you could imagine? Moreover, on this theory, we should be equally attracted to ANY seasonal change in ANY environment - so why do people choose the New England fall as special? And while wildlife safaris in Africa are extremely popular, I'm pretty sure that most of these tours do not advertise themselves as taking place at the transition between the dry and wet season! In short, this is just the kind of speculative just-so story lacking either evidence or plausibility that has given evolutionary psychology such a bad name.
I don't want to overemphasize the negative however, as there is an awful lot of good stuff in here too, especially when Barrow sticks closer to his field of astronomy and doesn't try to be a biologist as well. But one feels the problem is that Barrow just doesn't respect the scholarship of humanities professors because they don't measure up to the standards of science. This is unfortunate, and it is ironic that Barrow is convinced that humanities professors have simply ignored the sciences, when the problem is clearly at least as great in the opposite direction: too many scientists have failed to appreciate the nature of knowledge in other fields besides their own.

7 people found this helpful8 people found this helpful

No mind was ever a tabula rasa

July 8, 2005

Format: Paperback

John Barrow illuminates in this book the relationship between the sciences and the arts with a new perspective on our emergence in the Universe by means of natural selection.

As the philosopher Victor Zuckerkandl says (quoted in this book): 'Art does not aim at beauty. It uses beauty (or ugliness) to arrive ultimately at knowledge, at truth.' (as science)
Many natural adaptations have given rise to curious by-products, some of which have played a role in determining our aesthetic sense.

Although sometimes very tentative, this rich book sheds an insightful light on more or less hidden links, like
- the connection between the heavenly bodies and the pattern of life on earth (28 days)
- the importance of symmetry: living beings are symmetrical, which is rare for inanimate objects. Also, our evaluation of physical beauty focuses on symmetry.
- size as a key to survival, with the adage 'small is best'. 'The Almighty had an inordinate fondness of beetles.'
- the origin of painting: a natural outgrowth of the fallibility of human memory and the need to communicate. Also, the reason why we like savannah landscapes and not computer paintings because they seem unnatural.
- the Chomsky (innate patterns) / Piaget (blank slate) controversy on the origin of language
- the origin of literature: the craving for social cohesion and well-being met by oral history and stories in which the hearers appear in a leading role. More, 'The pen is mightier than the sword.'
- the origin of dance: a need for frenzied activity or heightened sensibilities in preparation for war, in celebration of fertility or birth or in mourning death. The rhythmic gyrations of primitive dance bind people together.
- the origin of music (the purest form of art): animal mating calls.

John Barrow explains clearly the relationship between music and mathematics as well as theories on mathematics (Platonism, intuitionism, inventionism, formalism) and music (absolutism and referentialism).

This book is an excellent exploration of a vast and very interesting human domain. Not to be missed.

10 people found this helpful11 people found this helpful

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