The Experience of Doing Science with an Artistic Spirit: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study

Thi s paper focuses on the concept of extracognition. It reports a qualitative study that explored the perceived experiences of doing science with an artistic spirit through the voices of living scientists who also engage in the arts. The pur pose was to understand how accomplished scientists who engage in the arts make sense out of their experience of doing science. Four highly able scientists with ex-pertise in their fie ld who also selfidentifie d as actively engaged in the fine a rts were given voice on their perceived experiences of doing science. Thr ough her-meneutic phenomenological methodology using thematic analysis, four major themes emerged. Thi s paper focuses on one theme, “Feeling Connected to Some-thing More through the Arts.” Thr ee subtopics are explored in relation to extracognition: (a) intuition, (b) serendipity, and (c) spirituality. The r ole of the arts is emphasized in att aining such experiences. Educational implications, limi-tations and strengths, and future directions are discussed. ISSN 1918-5227 Pages 111- 127