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  • © 2019

On Art and Science

Tango of an Eternally Inseparable Duo

  • Highly interdisciplinary treatment of a topic at the heart of intellectual endeavour
  • Articles authored by leading thinkers and academicians
  • Presented in a style accessible to the nonspecialist and educated layperson

Part of the book series: The Frontiers Collection (FRONTCOLL)

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Table of contents (21 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xviii
  2. Art and Science: A Tangled Relation

    • James W. McAllister
    Pages 1-10
  3. Art, Science, and the Nature of the Meritorious

    • Mark Daniel Cohen
    Pages 31-52
  4. Panofsky as an Epistemologist

    • Nathalie Heinich
    Pages 81-85
  5. Complexity and Chaos Theory in Art

    • Jay Kappraff
    Pages 117-138
  6. The View Through Glass

    • Rossella Lupacchini
    Pages 139-156
  7. Finally Fresh Air: Towards a Quantum Paradigm for Artists and Other Observers

    • Julian Voss-Andreae, George Weissmann
    Pages 157-179
  8. Of Barrels and Pipes: Representation-as in Art and Science

    • Roman Frigg, James Nguyen
    Pages 181-202
  9. Lines and Boxes: The Geometry of Thought

    • Barbara Tversky
    Pages 247-251
  10. Figurines and the Origin of Art

    • Nancy E. Aiken
    Pages 279-290
  11. Mathematics and Art Connections Expressed in Artworks by South African Students

    • Kristóf Fenyvesi, Christopher Brownell, Pamela Burnard, Pallawi Sinha, Werner Olivier, Catherina Steyn et al.
    Pages 291-312

About this book

Einstein once remarked "After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in aesthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are always artists as well". In this volume, some of the world’s leading thinkers come together to expound on the interrelations between sciences and arts. While one can segregate art and place it outside the scientific realm, it is, nevertheless, inextricably linked to our essential cognitive/emotional/perceptual modalities and abilities, and therefore lies alongside and in close contact with the method of science and philosophy. What inspiration can scientists draw from art and how can scientific spirit foster our understanding and creation of aesthetic works? How are art and science grounded in our cognition? What role does perception play in science and art? Are criteria for beauty in art and science the same? How does evolution shape our understanding of art? How do science, art and scientifico-artistic frameworks shape society as a whole and help us address its pressing issues? The epistemological and ontological aspects haunt artists, philosophers and scientists alike. The essays in this volume address these manifold questions while also elucidating the pragmatic role they play in our daily life. 

Editors and Affiliations

  • JVPD Scheme, Yoga Housing Society, Mumbai, India

    Shyam Wuppuluri

  • Montreal, Canada

    Dali Wu

About the editors

​Shyam Wuppuluri is an independent researcher working in the domain of foundations of science. His research interests range from philosophy to theoretical physics, mathematics and cognitive science. He is the recipient of Honra ao Mérito from the Brazilian Academy of Philosophy (Academia Brasileira de Filosofia) and has been a corresponding member of the academy since 2018. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Albert Einstein Fellowship 2020 from the Einstein Forum at Potsdam & Caputh and is a fellow of Royal Society of Arts. He is the instigating editor of several highly interdisciplinary volumes that disseminate and discuss issues underlying the foundations of sciences, and for which he has gathered the world's leading scientists and intellectuals as contributors; among them Noam Chomsky, Sir Roger Penrose, Sir Martin Rees, Daniel Dennett, A. C. Grayling, Nicholas Humphrey, Gregory Chaitin, Gerard 't Hooft, Ian Stewart, Barry Mazur, Stephen Wolfram, Paul Davies, Tyler Burge, Doron Swade, Julian Barbour, Newton Da Costa, Francisco Antonio Doria, Reuben Hersh, Nicholas Maxwell and many others.

Dali Wu is pursuing a doctorate in the “Study and practice of the Arts” at the University of Quebec in Montreal. She completed her masters degree in fine arts (M.F.A) from Haute école des arts du Rhin, France. Her focus has always been on the interdisciplinary aspects of art and their relation to the human condition and reality at large. She also focuses on the psychologico-cognitive aspects of the Digital Art. She combines visual art with tangible models and installations, to situate and simulate the real-world complexity from an (phenomenological) artistic angle, and regularly collaborates with artists, musicians and scientists in this context. Apart from the various international awards that she has received, she has presented her art work in a number of exhibitions, art festivals and public spaces and published papers in influential academic journals. She writes a column introducing international art institutions in the academic monthly “Fine Arts in China”. 



Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: On Art and Science

  • Book Subtitle: Tango of an Eternally Inseparable Duo

  • Editors: Shyam Wuppuluri, Dali Wu

  • Series Title: The Frontiers Collection

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27577-8

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-27576-1Published: 14 November 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-27579-2Published: 14 November 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-27577-8Published: 02 November 2019

  • Series ISSN: 1612-3018

  • Series E-ISSN: 2197-6619

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVIII, 353

  • Number of Illustrations: 53 b/w illustrations, 34 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics, Mathematics in Art and Architecture, Arts

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access