Artistic Scientists and Scientific Artists: The Link Between Polymathy and Creativity.

Abstract

The literature comparing artistic and scientific creativity is sparse, perhaps because it is assumed that the arts and sciences are so different as to attract different types of minds, each working in very different ways. As C. P. Snow wrote in his famous essay "The Two Cultures," artists and intellectuals stand at one pole and scientists at the other: "Between the two a gulf of mutual incomprehension-sometimes . . . hostility and dislike, but most of all lack of understanding. . . . Their attitudes are so different that, even on the level of emotion, they can't find much common ground" (Snow, 1964, p. 4). Our purpose here is to argue that Snow's oft-repeated opinion has little substantive basis. Without denying that the products of the arts and sciences are different in both aspect and purpose, we nonetheless find that the processes used by artists and scientists to forge innovations are extremely similar. In fact, an unexpected proportion of scientists consists of amateur and sometimes even professional artists, and vice versa. Contrary to Snow's twocultures thesis, the arts and sciences are part of one, common creative culture largely composed of polymathic individuals.

Memory characteristics in individuals with savant skills

“…From a psychological perspective, some would argue that there are more similarities between artists and scientists than differences between them (Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein, 2004). It can be argued that the skills needed to express talents are rather similar whatever the domain.…”

Creativity as Educational Objectives: From a Meta-theoretical Heuristic to Domain-specific Creative Behaviours

“…The infrequent cooccurrence of different creativity domains in polymathy (Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein, 2004) supports the notion of the domain-specificity of creativity, and of its importance to education. Beghetto and Plucker (2016) and Plucker, Beghetto, and Dow (2004), in their article entitled "Why isn't creativity more important to educational psychologists?…”

The role of creativity and innovation in contemporary education

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