Science vs. Literature. - Page 3

Yeah... when it dont work, it's literary humor... When it works, it's science fiction. Convenient!😉 😆

why should we choose between literature and science. there are different kinds of literature not just the english literatures. philosophy is also part of literature and there are literatures in politics in wars, in politics those that without the world cannot run and operate. the world also need science to know how things work, how things were made and how to make things. the world need both literature and science in this world as it cannot work without the other. let just let whoever who want to study eitheer of this in depth to study it.

Science and literature aren't mutually exclusive.

Since Jhumpa Lahiri has been mentioned, let's take an example of one of her stories from a recent collection, Unaccustomed Earth.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/05/08/060508fi_fiction

Once Upon a Lifetime explores the relationship between Hema and Kaushik, and narrated from the POV of Hema, we're given several hints about Kaushik's mother's battle with breast cancer, though it isn't clear initially.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult is another novel which explores the life of a girl who was born to provide a genetic match for her sister who suffers from leukemia.

Writers like Lahiri and Picoult focus on the human aspect of a disease, and its repercussions on the family. But to do that -- effectively -- they must study the work of actual scientists.

Science gives writers information to tell stories.

However, writers make Science accessible to the common public. How many of us read journal articles or medical research papers? In comparison, how many of us read stories and novels?

Even newspaper articles and non-fiction books are narrated in story form, one which was initially limited to fiction.

Literature can also be used to spur/develop new scientific ideas. E.g. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein uses body parts from corpses to create life.

Aren't scientists today doing something similar with stem cell research?

Originally posted by: qwertyesque

u know she looks hot.. but using the word to refer to hers as a dairy isnt exactly decent...😆😆😆.. she wrote those books onwhich the movie namesake was based....and many others she is a booker winner

Pulitzer actually, not Booker. She's never made it to the Booker shortlist.

I believe literature to be a tool to propagate science.Considering te basic difference between these two - literature came to existence as a result of creativity of the human mind which in turn is a product of science.If there was no evolution over the years,no new inventions about the printing technology and new developments around us which made our life easier which fed creative thoughts to the authors could there have been what we call a literary world?Science is mistakenly considered as a mere discipline but it has more than that.Science expalins nature,its behaviour,its interactions and in a way gives explanations of how our world,universe came to existence.It is very rare that one wonders about the birth of the surroundings he/she is in and if one does it reveals many astonishing questions as to how he/she developed from a microscopic amalgamated group of cells,how an indiviual has uniquely different features controlled by a thread of informations packed as a series of proteins,how the even tiniest of a photosynthetic organism can trap light energy and convert it into a fuel to vitalize itself,how the influence of stationary sun and other planets keeps us steadily on the ground and how the boiling fluid ferric material in the earth's crust keeps our magnetic and electric appliances running.On the other hand if one thinks about literature it reveals just many facets of human mind,human and animal psychology,their ways of living and the malicious behaviours of the so called rational animal to gain power or to speak about the good ones it satisfactorily describes a deep,platonic bonding or bodily pleasures.Does it leave one wondrous about any complex arrangement of units that give rise to and continues life?Literature is entertaining,Science is enlightening.If literature enlightens it does so about changing your ways and making yourself more presentable.Science takes you deep into the nature and tries to solve the enigma that lingers around.It is ofcourse a great thought and work of imagination relating to the human cunningness,their desire for authority,devotion and adoration between the opposite sexes put by Shakspeare,Homer and other literary giants but isn't it even a greater thought and work of imagination that Newton,Einstein and other distinguished scientists put forward?Would it be possible for us to explore planets other than earth,think about faster means of transport,develop super computers which could ease our life?Clearly Science proves to be more advantageous than literature.Some Sci-fi stories and novels enter/entered the literary circles as a window to the scientific world for the people.There is no doubt that they are/were left spellbound by that miniscule fragment of Science.

It is a misconception that Science is for people who are mad after numbers and are forgetful.Some say Scientists don't enjoy life and are always buried in books.I agree on that part.But is life gifted to us so that we merely enjoy it and eventually die?Wouldn't it be a more purposeful life we would lead if we would try to learn the nature's secret?Isn't it divine to know about the system we are living in and influenced by?These facts never seem to reach the common man.Human who is supposed to be the God's phenomenal creation has got himself caught in the web of pleasures,pains,problems etc created by himself.He is hardly drawn towards Science.It's a pity.Some say Science caused a lot of harm and destruction by its inventions but doesn't literature do it?Aren't there people who carry out burglaries and murders influenced by their favorite characters in novels and stories?Nothing actually is free from causing harms if used in the wrong way.

So thus taking account of the traits of Science 'm of the opinion that it dominates.