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A review by ellianamaselli
The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination by Jacob Bronowski
4.0
you know, for a textbook, this was pretty interesting.
I read this for a required honors class entitled, Intersections Between the Humanities and Sciences. the whole point of the class is for us to understand how the humanities and sciences complement each other and even need one another to thrive.
this book did a great job of covering just that in a way that was both incredibly dense, yet remarkably interesting. the book consists of seven lectures, each one building upon the last. these lectures as a whole bring attention to one thing: that man is greater than beast.
being a Christian myself, this is a conversation I have had many times. this was the first time, however, that I saw this conversation take place from a purely scientific perspective (though Bronowski touches on the subject of God and man's idea of Him, he himself is an atheist and thus perceives God to be something more akin to Knowledge itself, and its connection with nature). despite this, Bronowski holds adamantly to the fact that the human race is special, the human brain is special, and human emotion, imagination, and reasoning are wholly unique among the lifeforms.
I will take the next part of this review to summarize each chapter, as I have to do this for school anyway. though this is more for me than for anyone else, I will put it here since it might be beneficial to someone...
(spoilers ahead—can a textbook have spoilers??)...
lecture one: the mind as an instrument for understanding
In this lecture, Bronowski argues that our five senses impact how we interact with the world. These five senses are connected to the brain, and because of them, we can interpret the things around us. In the first few pages, Bronowski argues that “You cannot see that world without the intervention of the physical senses.” This relates to the title of the chapter in that it is our five senses (and therefore, our mind) which give us understanding. Our perceptions of the world are directly connected to our experiences.
Bronowski spends the majority of this lecture arguing what this means for man regarding his relation to animals. How are man and beast alike? How are they different? Bronowski says that the human mind is a large part of what makes them different—that is, the human mind’s ability to perceive the world differently than animals. Man’s abilities to understand and create are born from his five senses. The author even argues that “The abilities that we have in the way of memory and imagination, of symbolism and emblem, are all conditioned by the sense of sight.” Every abstract thing we understand is directly related to our kinesthetic senses—that is, our minds.
lecture two: the evolution and power of symbolic language
In lecture two, Bronowski continues to argue that there are distinctions between man and beast. In this case, he discusses the importance of human senses to man's interpretation of the world. He draws attention to the way that man can separate his instruction (or instinct) from the information he receives. Things like foresight, internalization, and reconstitution, differentiate man from beast. This is all concerning mankind's ability to process and structure language as a means of communication, which is so specific and complex. Brnonowski has it right when he says that "it is impossible to have a symbolic system without [language]" (p.38).
lecture three: knowledge as algorithm and as metaphor
In lecture three, Bronowski remarks that "consciousness ... is our mode of analysis of the outside world into objects and actions" (p.44). He discusses man's ability to interpret both metaphor and scientific facts, such as the phrase, "A Red Robin breast in a cage /Puts all Heaven in a Rage" (William Blake), or scientific questions about the state of the universe. He then continues his discussion of human language and how it relates to science. He finishes the chapter with a discussion of how every event that takes place in this world is connected to all other events.
lecture four: the laws of nature and the nature of laws
Bronowski spends this lecture discussing what constitutes a law and asking the question, “What is real, and how can we know it?” He argues that if there is absolute truth, man in his finite-ness, cannot access it. For because everything is connected, man cannot discover truth without deeply oversimplifying it. “There is no system which can embrace the whole of nature, or for that matter, the whole of mathematics.” (p.80) By this, he argues that every law that man discovers will probably, at some point, be disproven.
lecture five: error, progress, and the concept of time
Bronowski takes most of his time during this lecture to talk about the human brain and its relation to the body. He says that we cannot separate the brain from the human body, because they become one in the senses. Instead, we must look at the human being as a whole. Furthermore, he argues that the brain is far more complex than we could ever realize because it utilizes a language of statistics which we do not know. There are things, then, that we can never understand due to our finiteness. He thus concludes that while science is “an attempt to represent the known world as a closed system with a perfect formalism” (p.108), every scientific discovery reopens that system, making it impossible to truly achieve any sure knowledge of absolute truth. This all paves the way for his next and final lecture.
lecture six: law and individual responsibility
In his final lecture, Bronowski sets out to discuss the relationship between “scientific ethics” and legality. To do this, he first spends a great deal of the lecture asking the questions, “What is science?” and “How is it done?” He follows these questions with a final: “Can ethics and science be connected?” His answer, after all of this debating is an adamant “Yes,” and even goes so far as to say that in many cases, science can teach us ethics. He holds to this opinion for a few reasons, but his third reason (which is what he believes to be the strongest of the three arguments) is this: “You cannot know what is true unless you behave in certain ways” (p. 129).
I read this for a required honors class entitled, Intersections Between the Humanities and Sciences. the whole point of the class is for us to understand how the humanities and sciences complement each other and even need one another to thrive.
this book did a great job of covering just that in a way that was both incredibly dense, yet remarkably interesting. the book consists of seven lectures, each one building upon the last. these lectures as a whole bring attention to one thing: that man is greater than beast.
being a Christian myself, this is a conversation I have had many times. this was the first time, however, that I saw this conversation take place from a purely scientific perspective (though Bronowski touches on the subject of God and man's idea of Him, he himself is an atheist and thus perceives God to be something more akin to Knowledge itself, and its connection with nature). despite this, Bronowski holds adamantly to the fact that the human race is special, the human brain is special, and human emotion, imagination, and reasoning are wholly unique among the lifeforms.
I will take the next part of this review to summarize each chapter, as I have to do this for school anyway. though this is more for me than for anyone else, I will put it here since it might be beneficial to someone...
(spoilers ahead—can a textbook have spoilers??)...
lecture one: the mind as an instrument for understanding
In this lecture, Bronowski argues that our five senses impact how we interact with the world. These five senses are connected to the brain, and because of them, we can interpret the things around us. In the first few pages, Bronowski argues that “You cannot see that world without the intervention of the physical senses.” This relates to the title of the chapter in that it is our five senses (and therefore, our mind) which give us understanding. Our perceptions of the world are directly connected to our experiences.
Bronowski spends the majority of this lecture arguing what this means for man regarding his relation to animals. How are man and beast alike? How are they different? Bronowski says that the human mind is a large part of what makes them different—that is, the human mind’s ability to perceive the world differently than animals. Man’s abilities to understand and create are born from his five senses. The author even argues that “The abilities that we have in the way of memory and imagination, of symbolism and emblem, are all conditioned by the sense of sight.” Every abstract thing we understand is directly related to our kinesthetic senses—that is, our minds.
lecture two: the evolution and power of symbolic language
In lecture two, Bronowski continues to argue that there are distinctions between man and beast. In this case, he discusses the importance of human senses to man's interpretation of the world. He draws attention to the way that man can separate his instruction (or instinct) from the information he receives. Things like foresight, internalization, and reconstitution, differentiate man from beast. This is all concerning mankind's ability to process and structure language as a means of communication, which is so specific and complex. Brnonowski has it right when he says that "it is impossible to have a symbolic system without [language]" (p.38).
lecture three: knowledge as algorithm and as metaphor
In lecture three, Bronowski remarks that "consciousness ... is our mode of analysis of the outside world into objects and actions" (p.44). He discusses man's ability to interpret both metaphor and scientific facts, such as the phrase, "A Red Robin breast in a cage /Puts all Heaven in a Rage" (William Blake), or scientific questions about the state of the universe. He then continues his discussion of human language and how it relates to science. He finishes the chapter with a discussion of how every event that takes place in this world is connected to all other events.
lecture four: the laws of nature and the nature of laws
Bronowski spends this lecture discussing what constitutes a law and asking the question, “What is real, and how can we know it?” He argues that if there is absolute truth, man in his finite-ness, cannot access it. For because everything is connected, man cannot discover truth without deeply oversimplifying it. “There is no system which can embrace the whole of nature, or for that matter, the whole of mathematics.” (p.80) By this, he argues that every law that man discovers will probably, at some point, be disproven.
lecture five: error, progress, and the concept of time
Bronowski takes most of his time during this lecture to talk about the human brain and its relation to the body. He says that we cannot separate the brain from the human body, because they become one in the senses. Instead, we must look at the human being as a whole. Furthermore, he argues that the brain is far more complex than we could ever realize because it utilizes a language of statistics which we do not know. There are things, then, that we can never understand due to our finiteness. He thus concludes that while science is “an attempt to represent the known world as a closed system with a perfect formalism” (p.108), every scientific discovery reopens that system, making it impossible to truly achieve any sure knowledge of absolute truth. This all paves the way for his next and final lecture.
lecture six: law and individual responsibility
In his final lecture, Bronowski sets out to discuss the relationship between “scientific ethics” and legality. To do this, he first spends a great deal of the lecture asking the questions, “What is science?” and “How is it done?” He follows these questions with a final: “Can ethics and science be connected?” His answer, after all of this debating is an adamant “Yes,” and even goes so far as to say that in many cases, science can teach us ethics. He holds to this opinion for a few reasons, but his third reason (which is what he believes to be the strongest of the three arguments) is this: “You cannot know what is true unless you behave in certain ways” (p. 129).