Phillip Romero must have been trained in scientific methods to have become qualified as a doctor of western medicine specializing in child and family psychiatry. Such training entails considerable conditioning in what is known as scientific method, or a way of arriving at conclusions through a process of logical reasoning based on empirical observation.
Traditionally, philosophers have seen large discrepancies between the arts and the sciences. Some scientists have tended to arrogate measurable advances in knowledge to themselves, thinking that scientific method is the one and only reputable way of extrapolation. Scientists seek measurable outcomes but artists seem to be otherwise motivated. The doctor in question seeks to reconcile what many would see as irreconcilable.
Romero is one scientist who has squarely faced the indisputable fact that art has been a reality in the survival and evolution life on the planet since the earliest times. The motivation behind the creative impulse seems to account for a reality in the human psyche and yet it cannot be accounted for in the same way that scientific endeavor is. Scientists work towards measurable and concrete outcomes but artists do not seem to have the same motivation. A drawing on a cave wall may have beauty as an outcome but this is ethereal and immeasurable.
'Consilience' is a word that was coined in the nineteenth century but has been little used, even in epistemological circles. It means 'unity of knowledge' or arriving at the same conclusion although different methods might have been used. For example, Charles Darwin is said to have been disturbed when another naturalist came up with similar conclusions to his own. There was concern about who world get the credit for coming up with the theory of revolution. Academics and scientists can be jealous of theories that are their reason for doing things.
A reason for the rare use of this word might be that academia is not particularly fond of letting down the curtains around various disciplines. People who have become world experts in arcane fields may have got there by following the strict rules of their discipline. They may not be enthusiastic about consilience, preferring the comfort zones of established disciplines.
One of the greatest benefits of the Internet is that it has diminished to the ability of academics to hide in ivory towers, shooting arrows at intruders who have not been through the accepted initiation rites. Freedom of information and the facilities to browse freely through wide fields of knowledge has pushed consilient approaches forward.
When John Bowlby first introduced his theory of attachment he was attacked by his peers who perceived that he was not following the prescribed methods of his field. However, his theories gained credence. Now it is seen how infants and even adults are shaped intellectually by close associations. Biochemical analysis of brain tissue might come to the same conclusion as other disciplines, such as art and religion.
The work of Phillip Romero exhibits a consilient approach to the question of how art is an essential aspect of human survival. The field of developmental psychology is enriched by his work on how the impulse to be creative has been an essential part of the human survival kit throughout the evolution of our species.
Traditionally, philosophers have seen large discrepancies between the arts and the sciences. Some scientists have tended to arrogate measurable advances in knowledge to themselves, thinking that scientific method is the one and only reputable way of extrapolation. Scientists seek measurable outcomes but artists seem to be otherwise motivated. The doctor in question seeks to reconcile what many would see as irreconcilable.
Romero is one scientist who has squarely faced the indisputable fact that art has been a reality in the survival and evolution life on the planet since the earliest times. The motivation behind the creative impulse seems to account for a reality in the human psyche and yet it cannot be accounted for in the same way that scientific endeavor is. Scientists work towards measurable and concrete outcomes but artists do not seem to have the same motivation. A drawing on a cave wall may have beauty as an outcome but this is ethereal and immeasurable.
'Consilience' is a word that was coined in the nineteenth century but has been little used, even in epistemological circles. It means 'unity of knowledge' or arriving at the same conclusion although different methods might have been used. For example, Charles Darwin is said to have been disturbed when another naturalist came up with similar conclusions to his own. There was concern about who world get the credit for coming up with the theory of revolution. Academics and scientists can be jealous of theories that are their reason for doing things.
A reason for the rare use of this word might be that academia is not particularly fond of letting down the curtains around various disciplines. People who have become world experts in arcane fields may have got there by following the strict rules of their discipline. They may not be enthusiastic about consilience, preferring the comfort zones of established disciplines.
One of the greatest benefits of the Internet is that it has diminished to the ability of academics to hide in ivory towers, shooting arrows at intruders who have not been through the accepted initiation rites. Freedom of information and the facilities to browse freely through wide fields of knowledge has pushed consilient approaches forward.
When John Bowlby first introduced his theory of attachment he was attacked by his peers who perceived that he was not following the prescribed methods of his field. However, his theories gained credence. Now it is seen how infants and even adults are shaped intellectually by close associations. Biochemical analysis of brain tissue might come to the same conclusion as other disciplines, such as art and religion.
The work of Phillip Romero exhibits a consilient approach to the question of how art is an essential aspect of human survival. The field of developmental psychology is enriched by his work on how the impulse to be creative has been an essential part of the human survival kit throughout the evolution of our species.
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