台灣詩學‧吹鼓吹詩論壇

It is said that "Science is knowledge." But, I think the definition should be clarified again. Everyone can know mysterious things in a scientific way. Furthermore, scientists use facts to make predictions. For example, people may want to predict when the earthquake will happen or how the disease spreads out. Only when the facts are collected and organized in a scientific way to show how and why things happen, such as eclipse, you can say that “Science is knowledge.” Nevertheless, we know the names of animals, plants, people, cities, and countries, etc, and such facts are revealed not through science but passed by the word of mouth from one generation to the next. We can know facts by experience or observation. Therefore, I don’t think that science can prove everything in our life for us. While Literature is the record in words of what people have thought and felt from the ancient past to the present day. The humanists believed that the works of ancient Greek and Rome were the best models of literature and art. It can be possible for us to understand literature in the aspect of science, but I think it can not always be. What is literature? Literature aims to stir the feelings and imagination by describing the mood of joy or sorrow, by telling us exciting stories, and by introducing us to the characters whose personalities or perspectives we can learn and share. Literature can present different cultures for us. We can learn diverse cultures via reading different works of literature. The poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold felt that poetry should be the ‘criticism of life’ and express a philosophy. But, if we look at literature in a scientific way, we may not feel that literature is dull. Furthermore, science can advance human beings’ modern life and bring convenience to the society, but it also produces some environment problems in our surroundings, such as global warming. In “The Study of Poetry,” Arnold wrote that, “Without poetry, our science will appear incomplete; and most of what now passes with us for religion and philosophy will be replaced by poetry”. On the contrary, literature may improve our moral value about what is right and what is wrong. A modern society should have culture, since culture is not only the most effective cure for the ills of a sick society but also the salvation of human's agonizing soul.