Can the “Two Cultures� Become One Again?

Historians of psychology (and of science more broadly) often find themselves caught between the mutual animosities of natural scientists and historians — refugees from the “Two Cultures” of C. P. Snow’s famous 1959 lecture . The “ Science Wars ” of the 1990s certainly didn’t help matters as those who wanted to study science from historical, sociological, and anthropological perspectives were confronted — sometimes angrily  — by those who believed science’s pristine self-image to be adequate to the task of understanding what was taking place. But now there may be hope of an accommodation of sorts between the two. The New York Times reports that an attempt is being made at Binghamton University in New York called the New Humanities Initiative. (more…)