Breaking out of isolation …

… Siri Hustvedt on the Tangled Gender Roles in Science and Literature. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

 For many years, I have found myself awed by how difficult it can be for people in the sciences to have a productive dialogue with people in the arts and the humanities and vice versa. It is as if they have no common language. Specialization has long been with us, but since the Second World War, disciplinary isolation has only become more acute. There are many reasons for this tunnel vision, but I firmly believe that it has hurt our cultural discourse as a whole.