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Science and Culture: “The Best That Has Been Thought and Said” - Elicit

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In the 1880s, there was a famous debate between the English poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold and the biologist and anthropologist Thomas Henry Huxley (also known as “Darwin’s Bulldog”[1]). The debate concerned the place of natural sciences vs humanities and arts in contemporary education and culture. In Arnold’s definition, the meaning of culture is “to know the best that has been thought and said in the world.” Fittingly, the Arnold-Huxley debate is itself in that category when it comes to understanding the still existing tension between the practice and practitioners of science, on the one hand, and humanities and arts, on the other. In this series, we will explore this tension, starting with the very notions of ‘scientist’ and ‘artist,’ so common in everyday language that we forget about their thorny origins. Next, we will follow the Arnold-Huxley debate itself and how it relates to the current state of affairs. We will then look into the workings of scientific and artistic i

Science and Culture: “The Best That Has Been Thought and Said” - Elicit Science and Culture: “The Best That Has Been Thought and Said” Part I: A History of Terms Ulkar Aghayeva Writer Culture Research Nov 20, 2025 Nov 20, 2025 1 min read In the 1880s, there was a famous debate between the English poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold and the biologist and anthropologist Thomas Henry Huxley (also known as “Darwin’s Bulldog”{{reference 1}}). The debate concerned the place of natural sciences vs humanities and arts in contemporary education and culture. In Arnold’s definition, the meaning of cu

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