Pinker and Lehrer:

The hard sciences have been in control of data, research and answering some of the most interesting questions for a while now. Science is a broad subject with many sub-categories. For the past few years the questions of whether science has stopped progressing or whether it should combine with art to find answers to more questions have created a conversation in society. Steven Pinker wrote an article about how science is not anyone’s enemy and should continue to be used to explore big questions and find the answers. “We have the works of the great thinkers and their heirs, and we have scientific knowledge they could not have dreamed of. This is an extraordinary time for the understanding of the human condition” (Pinker 2). Since the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment, scientists have been around. They continue to amaze society with their findings. But is it time now to broaden science even more and involve the arts? Jonah Lehrer, a Rhodes scholar believes that incorporating the arts with science would help our society in so many ways. The arts and sciences need to create a positive feedback loop to connect with each other. “If we want to get an answer to our deepest questions—the questions of who we are and what everything is—we will need to draw from both science and art, so that each completes the other” (Lehrer 7). Lehrer and Pinker both are willing to change the arts and sciences, maybe not in the same ways, but I believe that they both would agree that change is good. Now, it is time to figure out what we will change and how it will impact society.

Pinker and Self-to-Text:

One day, I hope to be a pediatric nurse. In the nursing field I believe that it is important to try and incorporate both art and science, but it is the most crucial to make sure that science is involved in medicine. Many people think that it is only important to know science, simply because nursing is in a field where science is key component for progress. Steven Pinker, at professor at Harvard University believes that science maybe doesn’t get enough credit. He believes that the facts of science are the at the core of what makes us care for ourselves and others. “The facts of science, by exposing the absence of purpose in the laws governing the universe, force us to take responsibility for the welfare of ourselves, our species and our planet.” (Pinker 6) In nursing, it is very important to use science to care for others. As a nurse I must know how pieces of science work in order to understand the human body and why things happen. Science has given us much of what we know and has made the human race much more intelligent. Early scientists didn’t have much to look at, and struggled with data and research. Now, in our modern world, we have so much to offer science, such as technology. Science uses technology to make more and more advances. Science is especially important in nursing and in all medical fields. Science helps with research and to learn more about why specific things happen in the body.