Science in Culture

Twenty-five years ago, Gerald Holton's Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought introduced a wide audience to his ideas. Holton argued that from ancient times to the modern period, an astonishing feature of innovative scientific work was its ability to hold, simultaneously, deep and opposite commitments of the most fundamental sort. Over the course of his career he embraced both the humanities and the sciences. Given this background, it is fitting that the explorations assembled in this volume reflect both individually and collectively Holton's dual roots.The contributors draw analogies throughout between art and science. Historians of religion pursue the imagination into the bedroom with literary-theological representations, and a biologist and a physicist tackle the big question of the unity of knowledge and worldviews from a scientific perspective, while an art historian does the same from the perspective of art history. In the various reflective essays on science, art, literature, philosophy, and education, this volume provides a view in common: a deep and abiding respect for Gerald Holton's contribution to our understanding of science in culture.