Epistemology in Art and Science
Abstract
This
essay explores the epistemologies of art and science through the examples
of Max Ernst (Dadaist and Surrealist artist) and Ernst Mach (physicist
and forerunner of the Logical Positivists). To extrapolate from one
example to an entire discipline may be problematic, but it turns out
that both men demonstrate universals in their approach, oeuvre, and
legacy. It is argued that the philosophy of science is less useful in
understanding the epistemology of physics than a contemplation of the
practice of the physicist. By contrasting it with the practice of the
artist we can find both epistemological similarities and differences.
However it is proposed here that an epistemology of art has to start
with art practice, without the preconceptions of a ‘scientism’ that
too readily skew such an investigation. The work of Ernst Mach shows
that his account of the methods of physics is more tentative and fraught
with questions of the subjective than the intellectual legacy he spawned,
and hence of value in examining the epistemology of art.
8440 words