No, as books on physics, or mathematics, or neuroscience, are not books on scientific method. They are books on the particular content of a particular field.
But in the same way, The Craft of Musical Composition is about the content of the field of musical composition. It’s about the mathematics of musical notes, the various tonal and atonal structures available, the dynamics of moving from one structure to another, different approaches to counterpoint, etc… Right?
There definitely are parallels between studying either the process or the “content” of a scientific field and studying what I would refer to as “technique” in the art world. Musical composition is one example, and as a visual artist I can add things like color theory, semiotics, visual composition, and the handling of various mediums. These are phenomena that can and have been taught and written about. They can be as objectively addressed as any scientific subject in that you can say “if you follow procedure X, you’ll get Y result”.
But these things are supplemental to the primary goals of art/artists which are profoundly different from the goals of science/scientists. The goals of artists are generally personal and/or subconscious. They don’t (normally/consciously) involve a hypothesis to be proven or disproven (and artist statements are typically written after the work is complete, not beforehand).
There are formal studies of what groups of artists may be trying to achieve (surrealists, cubists, expressionists, etc), but the cultural and biographical details are usually very relevant. I guess I’d say that your test is one possible measure of a more general question: “Is the endeavor more focused on making a statement, or on answering a question?”. The more it emphasizes the former the more likely it is to be art (or politics, or lunatic raving. Or all three, depending on how entertaining, persuasive, or coherent it is), the more it emphasizes the latter the more likely it is to be something deserving of the name science (even if it may also deserve to be preceded by the words “sloppy” or “pseudo”).
No, as books on physics, or mathematics, or neuroscience, are not books on scientific method. They are books on the particular content of a particular field.
But in the same way, The Craft of Musical Composition is about the content of the field of musical composition. It’s about the mathematics of musical notes, the various tonal and atonal structures available, the dynamics of moving from one structure to another, different approaches to counterpoint, etc… Right?
There definitely are parallels between studying either the process or the “content” of a scientific field and studying what I would refer to as “technique” in the art world. Musical composition is one example, and as a visual artist I can add things like color theory, semiotics, visual composition, and the handling of various mediums. These are phenomena that can and have been taught and written about. They can be as objectively addressed as any scientific subject in that you can say “if you follow procedure X, you’ll get Y result”.
But these things are supplemental to the primary goals of art/artists which are profoundly different from the goals of science/scientists. The goals of artists are generally personal and/or subconscious. They don’t (normally/consciously) involve a hypothesis to be proven or disproven (and artist statements are typically written after the work is complete, not beforehand).
There are formal studies of what groups of artists may be trying to achieve (surrealists, cubists, expressionists, etc), but the cultural and biographical details are usually very relevant. I guess I’d say that your test is one possible measure of a more general question: “Is the endeavor more focused on making a statement, or on answering a question?”. The more it emphasizes the former the more likely it is to be art (or politics, or lunatic raving. Or all three, depending on how entertaining, persuasive, or coherent it is), the more it emphasizes the latter the more likely it is to be something deserving of the name science (even if it may also deserve to be preceded by the words “sloppy” or “pseudo”).