LEV NIKOLAEVIČ TOLSTOJ ON ART AND SCIENCE

Umberto Boccioni- Visioni simultaneee (Nedersachsisches Landesmuseum Hannover)


“…Astronomical, physical, chemical, and biological science, as also technical and medical science, will be studied only in so far as they can help to free mankind form religious, juridical, or social deceptions, or can serve to promote the well-being of all men and not of any single class.
Only then will science cease to be what is now- on the one hand a system of sophistries needed for the maintenance of the existing worn-out order of society, and on the other hand a shapeless mass of miscellaneous knowledge for the most part good for little or nothing – and become a shapely and organic whole having a definite and reasonable purpose comprehensible to all men, namely, that of bringing to the consciousness of men the truths that flow from the religious perception of our times.
And only then will art, which is always dependent on science, be what it might and should be, an organ co-equally important with science for the life and progress of mankind.
Art is not a pleasure, a solace, an amusement; art is a great matter. Art is an organ of human life transmitting man’s reasonable perception into feeling. In our age the common religious perception of men is the consciousness of the brotherhood of man - we know that the well-being of man lies in union with his fellow-men. True science should indicate the various methods of applying this consciousness of life. Art should transform this perception into feeling.
The task of art is enormous. Through the influence of real art, aided by science, guided by religion, that peaceful co-operation of man which is now maintained by external means, - by our law-courts, police, charitable institutions, factory inspection, and so forth, - should be obtained by man’s free and joyous activity.
Art should cause violence to be set aside.
And it is only art that can accomplish this”.


From: Leo Tolstoy, What Is Art And Essays on Art, READ BOOKS, 2006 (Originally published in 1930) ISBN 1846644674, 9781846644672- pp. 286-287.

GREEN QUOTE FOR TODAY- MAY 10, 2009

"How often people speak of art and science as though they were two entirely different things, with no interconnection. An artist is emotional, they think, and uses only his intuition; he sees all at once and has no need of reason. A scientist is cold, they think, and uses only his reason; he argues carefully step by step, and needs no imagination. That is all wrong. The true artist is quite rational as well as imaginative and knows what he is doing; if he does not, his art suffers. The true scientist is quite imaginative as well as rational, and sometimes leaps to solutions where reason can follow only slowly; if he does not, his science suffers".

-Isaac Asimov (1920–1992), Russian-born U.S. author. The Roving Mind, ch. 25, Prometheus (1983).

(Fractal image by Philippe de Courcy, no copyrights)

THE IBIOCAT’S BOOK CORNER-“PRACTICAL BIOTRANSFORMATIONS- A BEGINNER'S GUIDE"

Title: Practical Biotransformations - A Beginner′s Guide
Author: Gideon Grogan
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Year: 2009
Series: Postgraduate Chemistry Series
Format: Paperback, 344pp
ISBN-13: 9781405171250
ISBN-10: 1405171251

Book description
Biotransformations are reactions catalysed by either enzymes or microbes which are of potential use to preparative synthetic chemistry. Biotransformation science can include microbiological and biochemical techniques with which the organic chemist is unfamiliar, and can result in significant research and economic benefits.
The book is aimed at organic chemistry postgraduates and researchers in both academia and industry who are aware of the existence of biotransformation methodology, and of its potential value, but do not know how to begin to implement the relevant experimental techniques in the laboratory. It is written in an accessible and user–friendly way that should facilitate the introduction of biocatalysis in to some new labs.

For more information please visit the Publisher's Website: Wiley-Blackwell

GREEN QUOTE FOR TODAY- May 1st, 2009

“Volendo seriamente ricercare la verità delle cose, non si deve scegliere una scienza particolare, infatti esse sono tutte connesse tra loro e dipendenti l'una dall'altra. Si deve piuttosto pensare soltanto ad aumentare il lume naturale della ragione, non per risolvere questa o quella difficoltà di scuola, ma perché in ogni circostanza della vita l'intelletto indichi alla volontà ciò che si debba scegliere; e ben presto ci si meraviglierà di aver fatto progressi di gran lunga maggiori di coloro che si interessano alle cose particolari e di aver ottenuto non soltanto le stesse cose da altri desiderate, ma anche più profonde di quanto essi stessi possano attendersi”.

René Descartes (Cartesio), Discorso sul metodo