From hard science and computing to soft science and computing – an introductory survey

Rudolf Seising

Veronica Sanz González

pp. 3-36

in: Rudolf Seising, Veronica Sanz González (eds), Soft computing in humanities and social sciences, Berlin, Springer, 2012

Abstract

Humanities and Sciences conform the "two cultures' of modern society. "Literary intellectuals' on the one hand and scientists on the other established a deep gulf or rift in between. That is the point of the Rede's-Lecture The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution that was given by Sir Charles Percy Snow (1905-1980) at May 7, 1959 in the Senate House in Cambridge [40]. In this lecture he made the case of a breakdown of communication between these "two cultures' and he claimed that this breakdown is a major hindrance to solve the problems of the world. Without looking beyond one's own nose, he claimed, both cultures will become poorer. Offspring of these two cultures is our classification of Hard and Soft Science.