The Two Cultures Revisited

Abstract

This article addresses the question of two cultures, that is, the relationship between the culture of natural scientists and the culture of literary intellectuals, a distinction made by C. P. Snow in his 1959 lecture, The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. This reading of Snow draws from the theoretical and methodological strategies discussed by scholars interested in the supposed dichotomy between literature and science. Similar trends also can be found in social studies of science, where the constructive and rhetorical practices of scientists have been emphasized.