Interest in prediction and control

Scientists are very concerned with carefully controlling the nature of their experimentation and/or study. Controls are essential to generating data that are both reliable (stable) and valid (accurate). It is these kinds of data that are of interest to scientists because such information can be used to formulate testable hypotheses and to confidently predict future events.

Neither control nor prediction are of interest to artists. Their concerns are centered on making a heuristic (exploratory and self-educating) effort when engaged in creating expressive forms. The results of these efforts are not pre-determined because it is essential to remain ready to take advantage of unforeseen, serendipitous events ("happy" accidents) as one's work evolves.

Criteria for establishing the worth of research

Within the realm of science, establishing the worth of one's activities and findings is achieved through the use of formalized procedures and instruments. For instance, particular statistics, selected on the basis of the nature of one's research, are computed to project the levels of confidence one can have in the reliability and validity of one's findings.

The validity of the artist's effort -- the work of art created -- is based upon judging the credibility of the relationship between form and content, as well as the integrity of the artist's personal view; is it phony, contrived, borrowed or original. These criteria can be employed by the artist and/or the viewer either intuitively or objectively.

Ultimate aims of the research

The ultimate aim of science is to discover the truth. Scientists strive to generate true statements about reality by describing the physical and social world with ever increasing fidelity. Their investigations move from examining particular objects and events to the exposition of facts (reliable knowledge) and valid generalizations. Because of its logical and cumulative nature, science is always improving; i.e., we have a truer picture of the physical and social world today than we have ever had before.

Self-expression and the creation of meaning are the ultimate aims of artists. They seek to produce images that will be reflective of one's particular interpretation of the meaning of one's experience, which includes both individual and cultural attitudes and values. Art moves from a general view of experience to a particular interpretation of the meaning -- the import -- imbedded in that experience.

Because it is primarily concerned with expressing the perceptions and beliefs of individual artists living within particular cultures, art does not improve. The art forms produced today are no better than those produced thousands of years ago.

The primary concern of art is the exposition of meaning; what it means (and feels like) to be old, delighted, awed, exalted, attacked, maimed, elated, exhausted, somber or sober, peaceful or agitated, conflicted or tranquil. Art speaks to us metaphorically about the nature of phenomenon and one's emotional (as well as intellectual) reactions to life's experiences. And the value of artists and their works is based upon the extent to which the meanings created are significant and cogent expressions of both the artist and the psychological and social contexts in which works of art are created.