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SCIENCE WONDER ARTFrom wonder we gravitate to science and art to express all. Science is the concern with knowledge that can be objectively verified. Wonder is the great unknown / known with faith; mystical, magical, miracle of our universe. Art is a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities. 

SCIENCE

Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era, and in many historical civilizations. Modern science is distinct in its approach and successful in its results: ‘modern science’ now defines what science is in the strictest sense of the term.

The_Scientific_Universe

The scale of the universe mapped to the branches of science and the hierarchy of science.

In modern usage however, “science” most often refers to a way of pursuing knowledge, not only the knowledge itself. It is also often restricted to those branches of study that seek to explain the phenomena of the material universe. In the 17th and 18th centuries scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of laws of nature.

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. In an older and closely related meaning, “science” also refers to this body of knowledge itself, of the type that can be rationally explained and reliably applied. Ever since classical antiquity, science as a type of knowledge has been closely linked to philosophy. In the West during the early modern period the words “science” and “philosophy of nature” were sometimes used interchangeably, and until the 19th century natural philosophy (which is today called “natural science”) was considered a branch of philosophy.

WONDER

Wonder is an emotion comparable to surprise that people feel when perceiving something very rare or unexpected (but not threatening). It has historically been seen as an important aspect of human nature, specifically being linked with curiosity and the drive behind intellectual exploration. Wonder is also often compared to the emotion of awe, but awe implies fear or respect rather than joy. Wonder is something or someone that is very surprising, beautiful, amazing. It is a feeling caused by seeing something that is very surprising, beautiful, amazing, and magical or hard to believe. To wonder is to ask a question, to have interest in knowing or learning something, to think about something with curiosity, to feel surprise or amazement.world-of-wonder-248661

French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer René Descartes (1596–1650) described wonder as one of the primary emotions because he claimed that emotions in general are reactions to unexpected phenomena. He noted that when people first encounter a surprising or new object, “…this makes us wonder and be astonished at it”. Descartes therefore propounded that “Wonder is the first of all the passions.”

From Middle English wonder, wunder, from Old English wundor (wonder, miracle, marvel, portent, horror; wondrous thing, monster), from Proto-Germanic *wundrą(miracle, wonder), from Proto-Indo-European *wen- (to wish for, desire, strive for, win, love). Cognate with Scots wunner (wonder), West Frisian wonder, wûnder(wonder, miracle), Dutch wonder (miracle, wonder), Low German wunner, wunder (wonder), German Wunder (miracle, wonder), Danish and Swedish under(wonder, miracle), Icelandic undur (wonder).

Melvin Konner notes that “If the problem is too unfamiliar, it will evoke attention; if it is difficult but doable, it will evoke interest, attention, and arousal and, when solved, it will evoke pleasure, often signalled by a smile.” He says that “wonder” is “the hallmark of our species and the central feature of the human spirit”.

ART

Chumash cave painting, Kern County, CA

Chumash cave painting, Kern County, CA

Art Historically is sculptures, cave paintings, rock paintings and petroglyphs from the Upper Paleolithic dating to roughly 40,000 years ago have been found, but the precise meaning of such art is often disputed because so little is known about the cultures that produced them. The oldest art objects in the world—a series of tiny, drilled snail shells about 75,000 years old—were discovered in a South African cave. Containers that may have been used to hold paints have been found dating as far back as 100,000 years. Etched shells by homo erectus from 430,000 and 540,000 years ago were discovered in 2014.

Many great traditions in art have a foundation in the art of one of the great ancient civilizations:Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, China, Ancient Greece, Rome, as well as Inca, Maya, and Olmec. Each of these centers of early civilization developed a unique and characteristic style in its art. Because of the size and duration of these civilizations, more of their art works have survived and more of their influence has been transmitted to other cultures and later times. Some also have provided the first records of how artists worked. For example, this period of Greek art saw a veneration of the human physical form and the development of equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, beauty, and anatomically correct proportions. The Root

SCIENCE WONDER ART