Perhaps relevant for this interesting discussion is a consideration of the beginning of Western higher education in the universities of the 12/13th centuries, where - in extension of the ancients' protocols - music/harmonic theory is studied in the quadrivium (along with arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy), and this comes *after* education in the trivium of grammar, logic/dialectic, and rhetoric.
The theory of music in the West (if not its performance) is there a central part of the STEM tradition that should be held onto. As I think should be the position of STEM as specialised extensions of the linguistic arts, rather than a replacement for them.
Socrates makes a direct assertion against a narrow focus on mathematical disciplines: "*if* inquiry into all the subjects we've mentioned [i.e. the mathematical studies outlined in 525a-531c] brings out their community (koinônia) and their kinship (sungeneia) with each other and enables us to reason out how they are related (oikeia) to each other, it will contribute something to the goal of our enquiry [knowledge of the good, 532a]... otherwise it is in vain."
Danny
--
Danny Butt
Research Fellow
Research Unit in Public Cultures
School of Culture and Communication
University of Melbourne, VIC 3010
Australia
http://public-cultures.unimelb.edu.au/
http://www.dannybutt.net
+61 428 820 766
On 1/09/2014, at 12:41 PM, William Joel <joelw@wcsu.edu> wrote:
> (Before I continue, much if what I'll be sharing is my opinion, fed by thirty years of teaching computer science, and let's say about forty-five years of programming and working in the arts.)
>
> Programming, in my very humble opinion, is both an art and a science. Yes, there is a mathematical logic to any computer program, but the act of writing a good, readable, comprehendable program is an act of creativity. Some have even dared compare it to creative writing, but I'll step around that idea for the present.
>
> It's a true shame that software engineers have tried to make people believe that the development of computer programs can be automated, and that there is no creativity in the process. Funny, but it reminds me if the argument that music "written" by a computer program is not a work of art. But I say that the original program, and the subsequent music, are together a work of art, that there was a creative, artistic process at work that led to the program, which in turn created music.
>
> When a programmer arrives at a new solution to an existing problem, we occassionally call it an elegant solution, if the method is not only novel, but well thought out, and shows a creative use of existing ideas. Elegant. A computer program can be elegant. Imagine that.
>
> Then again, true science, not an engineering approximation, is a discipline that often leads to elegant, creative, artistic solutions to problems. But are not artists scientists as well? Are not potters material scientists? Are not composers physicists?
>
> By the way, I have found that music majors often make the best programs. I wonder why?
>
> William J. Joel, Computer Science
> _______________________________________________
> Yasmin_discussions mailing list
> Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
> http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions
>
> Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin
>
> SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
> HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
> TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
> If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/
_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions
Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin
SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/
