Computing Reviews
Today's Issue Hot Topics Search Browse Recommended My Account Log In
Review Help
Search
Reductionism in art and brain science : bridging the two cultures
Kandel E., Columbia University Press, New York, NY, 2016. 240 pp. Type: Book (978-0-231179-62-1)
Date Reviewed: Jul 20 2018

Reductionism has been generally understood, roughly speaking, as “nothing-but-ism”--for example, consider “the hyper-rationalist dogma that all mental processes are [nothing but] computations performed in accordance with precise algorithms” [1]. Such an approach clearly has very serious limitations. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to read Kandel’s statements:

Scientific reductionism often seeks to explain a complex phenomenon by examining one of its components on a more elementary, mechanistic level. Understanding discrete levels of meaning then paves the way for exploration of ... how these levels are organized and integrated to orchestrate a higher function. [...] By reducing figuration, artists enable us to perceive an essential component of a work in isolation, be it form, line, color, or light. The isolated component stimulates aspects of our imagination .... We perceive unexpected relationships in the work, as well as, perhaps, new connections between art and our perception of the world and new connections between the work of art and our life experiences as recalled in memory. (p. 5)
There is no “nothing-but-ism” here; rather, Kandel’s approach describes collective behavior--a concept emphasized and so named as early as 1968, by Paul A. Weiss [2], and familiar to some of us from, for example, the generalized (as opposed to message-oriented) object model [3]. Clearly, collective behavior may be dealt with only in the context of collective state, and thus Kandel properly observes, with reference to Gombrich, that “our brain takes the incomplete information about the outside world that it receives from our eyes and makes it complete”--here and elsewhere, this is an instantiation of collective behavior and collective state in general, and of emergence in particular. (Regretfully, Kandel does not use these terms.) Furthermore, the author’s statement that “despite incomplete information and potential ambiguities, even young children can interpret images quite accurately” (p. 22) is in excellent agreement with F. A. Hayek’s classical paper “The primacy of the abstract” in [2], including Hayek’s reference to Adam Ferguson’s similar observation, in 1767, about abstract rules and mental activities.

Kandel’s richly illustrated narrative includes two (at times rather detailed) biological chapters. The chapter about the biology of learning and memory presents superb instantiations of more general patterns described in two outstanding books--not mentioned by Kandel--that specify the problem from the viewpoints of mathematics (category theory) [4] and systems thinking [5].

After the biological chapters, Kandel describes in detail the painters of the New York School and the abstract art they created. In particular, he shows how each of these painters “forged a path from figuration to abstraction in a distinctive, and often selective, manner” (p. 87). These descriptions contain quite a lot of art criticism (including manifestos), and Kandel emphasizes throughout that the abstract painter attempts to create conditions that enable the viewer to “complete the picture based on his or her own unique experience” (p. 115)--another example of collective state and behavior. He also notes that the brain has specialized regions to process color separately from light and from form, and that color is substantially context dependent and is in fact a property of the brain: “it is the beholder who assigns meaning to the color, just as the beholder does to lines and textures.”

Other famous abstract artists--notably from Russia [6] and France--are not mentioned. Regretfully, Kandel does not mention prehistoric abstract art--another instantiation of the primacy of the abstract. Besides, I would disagree with Kandel’s thesis that “from Giotto to Gustave Courbet, the skill of the artist was generally measured by the ability to create an illusion of reality.” Not only do artists such as Bosch provide counterexamples, but from a semiotic point of view, such iconic representations as Dürer’s rhinoceros “appear to be more true than the real experience” because they portray our semantic knowledge rather than the visual experience [7]. Also: Mark Rothko was born in Dvinsk, not “Dinsk” (p. 123).

Summing up, I would certainly agree with Kandel’s presentation and assessment of abstract art as art that poses an enormous challenge to the beholder because it teaches us to look at both art and the world in new ways. In terms of computing, it can teach us to throw off the yoke of imposed methodology- and tool-based approaches, such as the message-oriented object model, in favor of more natural abstract ones. Thus, the book may be of interest (and of value) to those of us who are, or who want to be, abstractionists (a term coined decades ago by Grady Booch), especially current and future business and system modelers.

More reviews about this item: Amazon, Goodreads

Reviewer:  H. I. Kilov Review #: CR146162 (1810-0534)
1) Bunge, M. Emergence and convergence: qualitative novelty and the unity of knowledge. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada, 2003.
2) Koestler, A.; Smythies, J. R. Beyond reductionism: new perspectives in the life of sciences. Hutchinson, London, UK, 1969.
3) Object data management reference model.ANSI Accredited Standards Committee, X3, Information Processing Systems. Document Number OODB 89-01R8 (Sept. 17, 1991).
4) Ehresmann, A.; Vanbremeersch, J. P. Memory evolutive systems: Hierarchy, emergence, cognition. Elsevier, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2007.
5) Hayek, F. A. The sensory order: an inquiry into the foundations of theoretical psychology. Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., London, UK, 1952.
6) Gray, C. The Russian experiment in art: 1863-1922. Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY, 1972.
7) Eco, U. A theory of semiotics. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, 1976.
Bookmark and Share
  Featured Reviewer  
 
Arts And Humanities (J.5 )
 
 
Physical Sciences And Engineering (J.2 )
 
Would you recommend this review?
yes
no
Other reviews under "Arts And Humanities": Date
Aaron’s code
McCorduck P., W. H. Freeman & Co., New York, NY, 1991. Type: Book (9780716721734)
Dec 1 1991
Information technology in the humanities: tools, techniques and applications
Rahtz S. (ed), Halsted Press, New York, NY, 1987. Type: Book (9789780470208526)
Feb 1 1988
Artificial intelligence and expert systems: case studies in the knowledge domain of archaeology
Gardin J., Halsted Press, New York, NY, 1988. Type: Book (9789780470212202)
Mar 1 1990
more...

E-Mail This Printer-Friendly
Send Your Comments
Contact Us
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.   Copyright 1999-2024 ThinkLoud®
Terms of Use
| Privacy Policy