Living with “Encantados”: Dances of Poet and Scientist Within the Self

Abstract

Western empiricism may draw a strict boundary between the poet (associated to imagination, subjectivity and emotions) and the scientist (operating on the bases of objectivity and logic). However, poets are simultaneously part of both the poetic and scientific worlds. They transit between the worlds analogously to people who live along the Amazon and São Francisco rivers in Brazil. These people have a relationship with the “Encantados” (“Enchanted ones, mythical shadow-like entities believed to inhabit there). Encantados are parts of the same whole—they are conceived as parallel but mutually influent worlds. So too, phenomena are rich fusions of poetic and scientific modes of thought. Here, we analyze the experience of researchers who live at the boundary of poetry and science, creating poetic movements to enable the scientist to better explore the living world.