This essay has three main goals: to introduce and somewhat contextualize the papers that follow; to bring out some implicit dialogues among them; and, in order to encourage further discussion in future issues of the Journal of Consciousness Studies, to introduce some new perspectives, including the historical development of Western art, cognitive linguistics, and the sacred. The remarks pertaining to the third goal are necessarily personal, and should not be confused with Journal of Consciousness Studies editorial policy, except insofar as (...) their goal is to promote debate across the gap that separates the sciences and the humanities -- the ‘two cultures'. This gap was perhaps first pointed out in the late 1950s by C.P. Snow, who was noted as both a novelist and scientist. (shrink)

What is art? What is beauty? How do they relate? Where does consciousness come in? What about truth? And can science help us with issues of this kind? Because such questions go to the very heart of current conflicts about Western value systems, they are unlikely to receive definitive answers. But they are still very much worth exploring -- which is precisely the purpose of this collection of papers, with particular attention to the relationships between art and science.