The Third Culture
| Company type | Nonprofit organization |
|---|---|
| Industry | Science communication, intellectual discourse |
| Founder | John Brockman |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | John Brockman (founder) |
| Website | www |
The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution is a 1995 publication authored by John Brockman, showcasing leading scientists who convey groundbreaking concepts directly to a general audience. Brockman further developed these ideas through the Edge Foundation platform, where eminent intellectuals express their perspectives using clear and approachable language.
The book's title alludes to C. P. Snow's 1959 work The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, which emphasized the rift between the humanities and the science disciplines.
Contents
The 1995 volume includes essays from twenty-three distinguished contributors, such as:
- physicist Paul Davies
- biologist Richard Dawkins
- philosopher Daniel Dennett
- paleontologist Niles Eldredge
- chaos theory expert J. Doyne Farmer
- theoretical physicist Murray Gell-Mann
- biologist Brian Goodwin
- geologist and biologist Stephen Jay Gould
- physicist Alan Guth
- inventor W. Daniel Hillis
- theoretical psychologist Nicholas Humphrey
- geneticist Steve Jones
- biologist Stuart Kauffman
- specialist in complex systems Christopher Langton
- biologist Lynn Margulis
- mathematician and computer scientist Marvin Minsky
- mathematical physicist Roger Penrose
- cognitive scientist Steven Pinker
- theoretical astrophysicist Martin Rees
- cognitive scientist Roger Schank
- theoretical physicist Lee Smolin
- biologist Francisco Varela
- evolutionary biologist George C. Williams
This work played a role in promoting scientific discussion within cultural sections of newspapers outside the United States, particularly in Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. It generated discourse regarding its implicit suggestion that "third culture" thinking is predominantly an American development. While English-speaking countries have a well-established tradition of scientists popularizing science, historically this was less prevalent in German and French cultures, where journalists frequently fulfilled that function. Nevertheless, earlier figures such as physicists Heisenberg and Schrödinger, along with psychologist Piaget, also exemplified "third culture" ideals. German writer Gabor Paal associated the concept with Hegel’s idea of Realphilosophie (philosophy of the real).
In the period between the World Wars, members of the Vienna Circle, including Otto Neurath, championed the integration of scientific knowledge and its popular dissemination. The emergence of Nazism prompted many of these thinkers to emigrate to the United States, thereby influencing Anglo-American academic circles during the 1930s and 1940s.
References
- John Brockman, The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution, Simon & Schuster: 1995
- Gabor Paal, Was ist schön? Ästhetik und Erkenntnis, Koenighausen & Neumann (2003), Würzburg.
Further reading
- Perspectives on "the Third Culture" from the editor of Wired.