Keywords: Health, Career, Philosophy, Care Philosophy, Care Domains, Art, Science

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Jones, P. (2006) Searching for the middle: Art & Science

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Art & Science

Serres refers to the ‘line of rationalism’; a lance that rips chunks of knowledge from its context, separating it from experience, from life. Science fractures reality to make problems tractable, to fit the shards into disciplinary niches. Using technology scientists seek out not just handholds, but faults and fissures. The toolset includes mathematics, classification, positivism, logic and concept analysis, relying increasingly on information and communication technologies. Old habits die hard when there are still parts of the natural world to codify and classify. In climbing down from the forest canopy, when next we climbed this particular middle was by-passed. Now there are new species to examine and record. When viewed in isolation science is the means to progress and certainty. When associated with human affairs, however, our interdependence, responsiveness to change, frailty, and biospheric anxieties are revealed. Uncertainty has reappeared, exacerbated by inequalities within and without borders, driven by external loci that swing through the domains of sciences, individual psyche, politics and societies.

Whatever the situation interfaces abound. How many are there: face-to-face, person to Earth, mind to reality, individual to group, human to computer, and person to spiritual? The primacy of these interfaces reflects their time, the context, the accumulation of knowledge and transfer of information. All inevitably have knowledge and information in common. These concepts represent our age no longer just real and imagined, but virtual as implemented in the World Wide Web. People interface using their senses. A computer senses through its interfaces. Interface a popular term about which Serres (1995b) observes:

Have you noticed the popularity among scientists of the word interface – which supposes that the junction between two sciences or two concepts is perfectly under control? On the contrary, I believe that these spaces between are more complicated than one thinks. This is why I have compared them to the Northwest Passage … with shores, islands, and fractal ice floes. Between the hard sciences and the so-called human sciences the passage resembles a jagged shore, sprinkled with ice, and variable … It’s more fractal than simple. Less a juncture under control than an adventure to be had. Serres, 1995b p.70.

Although written at a time when the Internet bubble was still inflating, Join-Lambert et al (1997) throw light on the possible future directions of study and knowledge:

Intelligence is not about knowing axiomatically how to reason... The French 16th Century philosopher Montaigne already had dismissed the concept of a 'well-stuffed head'. The advent of the printing press made the memorization of Ulysses' travels and of folk tales--the support of knowledge at that time - redundant. Montaigne saw no longer use in memorizing a library that was potentially infinite. But does not the Internet ask for a 'well-endowed head'? Won't the best surfer be a 'Jack of all trades'? The fastest surfer is not going to be your typical Ivy-league super-titled philosopher: That guy's head will be simply too loaded to sort it out on the Net. So, there will be fresh opportunities for those who were viewed by society as laggards. It is a clean start with equal opportunities for all. (Join-Lambert, Klein, Serres; 1997).

Serres’ vision is not all conquering. Concern continues as to the quality of knowledge on the web, especially health information, and the realisation of benefits from e-learning. Access to health care services and education remain key political issues. Groups have mobilised to reduce the digital divide through digital communities furthering political, democratic and environmental awareness using information technology under the aegis of social and community informatics. Access to ICT, education and training makes obstacles and alternate passages through the system(s) visible, whether for individuals, community groups or global communities.

In addition to the gaps suggested by the interfaces above, the void between theory and practice is a subject of ongoing debate within health care (Fawcett, 2003; Cody, 2003) and without (Northouse, 2003; Temperton, 2004). There is another - the mind gap; the gap an individual must traverse to access education (Join-Lambert and Klein, 1997). For many people this proves a complex negotiation, as well recognised in medical sociology. Parsons’ (1951) seminal work on the sick-role, explaining the sequence individuals pass through when a personal health problem reaches the point were expert medical help must be sought. The formal step of going to the doctor must be sanctioned and initiated socially. Individuals, especially juniors, must frequently rely on the financial or emotional support of a family member if they are to pursue serious study. People need permission to be sick or clever(er).

Serres echoes concerns expressed by Lessig (2002), regarding political control of knowledge, the extent of copyright and access. There are two opposing positions one a legacy, the other progressive and tied to the need for new ways to solve problems: 1. Disciplines retain control of knowledge, seek to define, maintain and patrol boundaries – through professional organisation, socio-political recognition and cultural expectations. 2. Interdisciplinary ethos: The nonrivalrous nature of knowledge is recognised, a new epistemology emerges. Hermes’ travels are curtailed if creativity is stymied.

The Frenchman finds residence, belonging problematic, disturbing even. Travel in the past and even today requires safe passage through what may be hostile territory, explaining the significance of the point of no return. Claims for homeland and the resources vested there are an invitation for violence. What does this say of Serres’ view of knowledge? His use of Harlequin as a trope could also denote identity, belonging and history. What is Serres to do then to deny his culture, his home: undress himself? Unlike Harlequin our nakedness places us where and when we started. A reminder of the Natural contract, when knowledge and uncertainty centred on survival, hands and feet commune with Nature.

Intro : Serres : h2cm : Fused : Info2Care : You are here : Lang2Care : Global Reach & Close

References:

Cody, W.K. Nursing Theory as a Guide to Practice, Nursing Science Quarterly, 2003; 16,3,225-231.

Fawcett, J. Theory and Practice: A Conversation with Marilyn E. Parker, Nursing Science Quarterly, 2003; 16,2,131-136.

Join-Lambert, L., Klein, P., Serres, M. (1997) Superhighways for All: Knowledge’s Redemption, Revue Quart Monde, Paris, 1,163.

Lessig, L. The Future of Ideas, Vintage; 2002.

Northouse, P.G. Leadership: Theory and Practice, Sage Publications Ltd. 2003.

Parsons T. The Social System. Glencoe, IL, The Free Press, 1951, 428-79.

Serres, M. The Troubador of Knowledge. S. Faria Glaser & W. Paulson (trans). University of Michigan Press; 1997.

Serres, M. Conversations on Science, Culture, and Time. With Bruno Latour, trans. Roxanne Lapidus, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; 1995.

Serres, M. The Natural Contract, trans. Elizabeth MacArthur and William Paulson, University of Michigan Press; 1995.

Serres, M. Genesis, trans. James, G., Nielson, J., University of Michigan Press; 1995.

Temperton, V.M. et al. (Eds.), Assembly Rules and Restoration Ecology: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice, Washington, Island Press; 2004.