While many people believe that arts and sciences should be integrated, is that necessarily true? Yo Yo Ma states, in his essay “Necessary Edges”, that “Empathy comes when you understand something deeply through arts and literature and can thus make unexpected connections”. This is a large claim to make. Empathy is a basic human emotion and can be felt by almost everyone on the planet, regardless if they have been exposed to meaningful art or literature. Claiming that it can only come from certain things undermines the feelings of everyone who hasn’t experienced that art or literature. What right does Ma have to claim that only those who have seen art and literature can feel deep and meaningful empathy? Ma also states in his essay that “Only one [Neural] pathway can be activated at a time, so when one is on, the other is off”. This directly contradicts his point and proves that arts and STEM cannot be taught at the same time. While they may be integrated and layered, one cannot be learning STEM and art at the same time. It is like juggling while riding a unicycle- doable but very hard to achieve successfully.
This argument is very strong as you were able to integrate Ma’s text throughout. You brought up some very valid points, pointing to how Ma seems to be digging himself into a hole rather than making his point. You were able to explain each point that you addressed from Ma’s text and summarize them clearly. Great job!
Is this your naysayer paragraph? I’m guessing that it is–which would make this Blog #10. You do a good job finding a week spot in Yo Yo Ma’s argument–his narrow definition of empathy. You could make this argument stronger by providing concrete examples of other ways that humans can refine their ability to think empathetically.