12 



Science and Art 



Although scientists often become more completely 

 absorbed in their specialized careers than most people do, 

 they also of course take part in all the other activities com- 

 mon to human beings. Their cultivation of the scientific 

 attitude, however, frequently enables them to approach their 

 other activities in unusual ways. In these three final chap- 

 ters I would like to give a brief account of how a knowledge 

 of science might condition one's attitude toward art and 

 toward moral values, and finally how science is increasingly 

 influencing decisions in regard to public poUcy. It would be 

 a mistake to think that all scientists share all the views 

 expressed. I am not even sure that a majority would share 

 a majority of the views. I merely want to demonstrate in 

 a very preliminary way that science does have something 

 interesting to say about these important matters and that 

 it is not simply an intellectual device for producing a higher 

 standard of living in physical terms. 



It is ordinarily believed that science has little to say about 

 what are loosely called value problems. The overwhelming 

 majority of nonscientists feel this way, and many scientists 

 will be found to agree. Like most important questions in 

 life, the problem of value has many sides. It is quite Hkely, 

 therefore, that it will look very different depending on which 



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