How can we know if something is "true" in the natural sciences and in the arts?!!Marek and Kamil enter an art gallery. Kamil notices Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica (1937) showing the tragedy caused by bombardment of the small village. !!Marek: Kamil, what do you think about that painting? Do you think the Spanish Civil War looked like this in reality? Does it shows any truth for you? Recently, I thought about the truth that is included in the arts. An if there is any truth in it in comparison to the natural sciences. !!Kamil: I have to admit that the painting is astonishing and wonderful, but I don’t think that the war really looked like this. Of course, I don’t want to criticise Picasso’s paintings, but there is this thing that the real image cannot be exactly reflected in someone’s painting, especially when the painter wasn’t actually on the battlefield, and when he uses a metaphor . So he must have painted this using imagination. Now, imagine, that another painter is standing next to Pablo Picasso in the moment when he was painting the work. Do you think that both of them would paint exactly the same painting? This would have to be a miracle if they did so. But when we talk about the natural sciences, the thing look completely different. There is only one truth, which despite many scientist, always will be the same.!!Marek: Why do you think that there is only one truth in the natural sciences and in the arts not? !!Kamil: Look. In the natural sciences like chemistry for example, many experiments are made by scientist. But they do not devise how the experiment would go. The nature determined the laws of physics, chemistry and biology and from that moment, until forever, they will be the same. So particular experiment conducted exactly in the same conditions and using the same amount of substances will always give the same result, which is the „truth”. But when you would took two painters to paint the same thing using the same canvases, brushes, paints etc, the work of each painter would be completely different. As you can see - there is only one truth in science, but many in the arts.!!Marek: Oh, I have never thought about this in that way. Now I can see the difference. But actually, to conduct the particular experiment, the scientist uses the knowledge and the laws which someone else discovered beforehand. How can we know that the particular law would always act the same? How can we know that the law is not only devised by God for our generation? Or that the scents did take all facts into consideration?!!Kamil: We don’t know that. But as long as we are living in our generation, other generations doesn't mean much for us. We have our laws so probably they would have theirs, or the laws would remain the same forever. We cannot predict what the future will be. !!Marek: I think I get your point. And as it comes to the arts, after your short explanation I’m think !I get what you trying to say. And don’t you think that the truth in arts depends also on the particular opinion and beliefs of the person who watches it? Let’s say I painted a painting inspired by my feelings and beliefs. Then you saw the painting. And there are two main ways of interpretation. Either you have exactly the same beliefs and feelings that I have - then the painting is one hundred percent truth for you, or you have completely different - so the paining is partly truth or not at all. And the same way of interpretation could be applied to any form of arts - theatre, music, film - not only to painting. As long as you interpreted it like the author wanted - it’s fine, otherwise we cannot say that there is only one truth in the arts. But it rarely happens that the interpretation is exactly the same. There are different opinions, different feelings, different thoughts and believes inside each of us, and it is virtually impossible to happen. !!Kamil: That’s right. I totally agree with you, my friend. !!Marek: I’m very happy that we had that kind of conversation. Now my thoughts clarified a bit. !!

Word count: 727!!BIBLIOGRAPHY!!http://mrhoyestokwebsite.com/AOKs/The%20Arts/Related%20Articles/Art%20&%20Truth.htm!!N. Alchin, C. Henly ”Theory of Knowledge”, Hodder Education!!!Kamil Skirło!II E IB!!