Marshall Duke and Dan Reynolds | From Rambo to Rushdie via Linklater and Lavant: Our Peanut Butter Cup Runneth Over
Some things are easier to mix together than others. There is the proverbial problem of mixing oil and water, but then there is also the smooth blending of coffee and cream. Bringing together students from film studies and psychology in order to study theory of mind might best be described as midway between these extremes—for us the best metaphor is peanut butter and chocolate—not always easy to integrate, but the result is well worth it (as the Reese’s candy folks have shown).
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in collaboration between the social sciences and the humanities. Venerable humanities journals such as Style now publish reports on digital analyses of modern and classic texts as well as writings discussing the evolutionary significance of fiction. Publications such as The Scientific Study of Literature and The Journal of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts have appeared. It should come as no surprise that there is controversy surrounding these new "Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups." Our CMBC lunch discussion will represent an effort to identify some of the main questions surrounding the mixing of empirical/theoretical social science and the humanities. We hope that the gathered company will consider the pros and cons of such a blend (which has a history dating back to Freud’s analysis of Leonardo daVinci’s relationship with his mother!) and enjoy a good discussion. We cannot say what the lunch will comprise, but the dessert will be….well, you might be able to guess.