TRUTH By Leo Li
Wigram Allen Oration Prize Winner
I
n our world, where science, technology,
engineering and mathematics dominate industry, we have often felt a societal push away from the Arts and towards these fields collectively known by their acronym, STEM. This socio-educational repulsion has resulted in a dichotomy being formed amongst our universities: the well-read though unemployable Arts student with a broad understanding of the world, and the STEM major with the social competence of a potato, looking at a guaranteed six-figure grad salary. As with all constructed dichotomies, we are at fault in our assumption that the two groups are mutually exclusive and hence that they should be individually pursued. In fact, we are misguided in our assumption that the two are different at all, given their rich and deeply entwined history.
It is often said that there are two kinds of truth: the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. I believe the first of these is science, and the second is art. Neither is independent of the other or more important than the other. Rather, they co-exist as classifications of truth, the greater whole whose pursuit gives meaning to life. Together, they address the rational and irrational aspects of our humanity, allowing us to inch closer towards human apotheosis. They cannot stand alone, despite our unquenchable drive to pull them apart for isolated endeavour. Looking at the past millennia alone shows that the division of art and science is very much a modern phenomenon and perception. The idea of the Western polymath reached its climax in the 16th century when Renaissance Men such as Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Galileo
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