``I can't be sure what I had in mind in speaking of studying art to illuminate the sciences, but I doubt it's the point you make so splendidly on p. 3. I agree fully with that point, think it important, and doubt that I could have made it so cogently when I wrote Structure. But I'm more likely to have had in mind the desirability of studying art to explore what made it different from science. I thought of Structure as buying into the categories used in history of art, literature, etc., and declaring that science was like that too. Partly as an unintended consequence of that book, there's developed a considerable body of sociological literature arguing that science is just like all other human practices, and that it's claims to special status are simply a political ploy. I, without any thought of establishing a hierarchy, have always felt a need to recapture what's special about science, what differentiates it, not from other practices as a group, but from other practices considered individually. Art is an obvious and an especially apposite practice to choose for this purpose. I suspect that that is what I was getting at in my remark to you.'' Thomas Kuhn, 1994
http://dalkeyguy.blogspot.com/
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The above was part of an exchange of letters between Guy Robinson and Thomas Kuhn. I followed some links on Louis Proycet's blog.
Well, speaking only for one kind of art, drawing, there is not much separation as it might seem, especially in field studies. We could use Darwin as an example. Drawing was the only way to record species, well into the age of photography. The drawings were brought back and given to an engraver to reproduce the drawings as book illustrations. This was also done by geographic surveys.
What's going on at the concept level is studying the space relations and structures of plants and animals in a landscape. What's going on at the style level comes from Durer and others. His pen, ink, watercolor and tempera work are examples. Here is a study of a bird wing.
http://www.watercolorpainting.com/wcart/abcde/durer_wing300290.jpg
The letters a very interesting reading for me. They cross back and forth with the sciences and philosophies.
CG
