This essay from The Edge examines the prospects for the emergence of a third culture in which the natural sciences join the humanities in explaining why we feel and behave the way we do. The “third culture” concept refers to C.P. Snow’s essay The Two Cultures, based on a 1959 lecture, in which he discussed the problems resulting from a lack of communication between humanists and scientists. The Edge essay, by philosopher Gloria Origgi, talks about some of the possible pitfalls of using the natural sciences in explanations of human behavior, and also mentions some work that avoids these pitfalls and perhaps exemplifies what we might hope for from a third culture. Using biology, in particular evolutionary biology, to help figure out human behavior (why we love who we do, why we tend to have certain kinds of social institutions but not others, why we believe in gods) has been a contentious enterprise, but I find it a fascinating one, and I hope we do see more integration of the sciences and the humanities.
The third culture
