Abstract visualisations of mathematical notions : the conflict between rationalism and empiricism.

• Main Author: Chew, Kia Hwee.
• Other Authors: Joan Marie Kelly
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Visual arts
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52322
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

‘Mathematics transcends individual civilizations and specific languages. It is one large system of logic – a kind of universal language’ (Reed). If truth can wholly be fathomed through empirical means, there would not exist such an extent of irresolvable mathematical paradoxes. Essentially, the mind cannot rationally resolve the conundrums of the universe as Man have been conditioned to logically understand the phenomena world through sensory perception. Philosophers have addressed this age-old topic concerning the debates between the Rationalists and Empiricists at length for millenniums. What is the significance of this contention to the sphere of visual art? How far then can the amalgamation of mathematics (reason) and art (sensation) forge new frontiers for abstract contemplation? Can this abstract form of reasoning also provide an alternative domain for Man to peer intuitively into the veils of nature?