Time, Infinity, Cosmology.- Did Time Have a Beginning? A Meeting Point for Science and Philosophy.- The Flowand the Map: On the Dynamic and Static Views of Time.- The Evolution of the Universe.- And the Eternal Zeno Springs to Mind.- Creating the Physical World ex nihilo? On the Quantum Vacuum and Its Fluctuations.- Worldly Nihilism and Theological Nihilism — A Possible Definition.- General Discussion on the Themes of the First Section.- Intelligence and Emotions.- Original Knowledge and the Two Cultures.- The Many Faces of Intelligence.- Cycles of Re-Creation — A Psychoanalytical Approach to Music.- Beauty and Creativity.- Symmetry: A Bridge Between the Two Cultures.- The Dynamics of Beauty.- Scientific and Artistic Creativity: In Search of Unifying Analogies.- The Artworld and the World of Works of Art.- Architecture Between Science and Art.- The Mirror: An Optical Prosthesis that Multiplies the Reflective Abilities of the Mind.

The aim of this book is to offer a profound and unitary discussion of problems of fundamental problems that, although common to the two cultures, have traditionally been considered from different perspectives. Scientists, philosophers, humanists, musicians and artists have gathered with the purpose of cooperating to establish more fertile grounds for the communication between the two cultures. The themes dealt with in the book have troubled mankind for centuries, and innumerable efforts have been devoted to their solution. The topics include the concept of time, the meaning of nothingness, infinity, numbers, intelligence and the human mind, the basic mechanisms in the production of thought, the relationship between artistic and scientific creativity, and beauty as a bridge between the two cultures.

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