Why is "science" in "Bachelor of Science" singular, whereas "arts" in "Bachelor of Arts" is plural?

Question

In the following degrees — "Bachelor of Science" and "Master of Science" — "science" is an uncountable or singular noun.

In contrast, in "Bachelor of Arts" and Master of Arts, "arts" is countable and plural. Wikipedia says the Master of Arts "degree is usually contrasted with the Master of Science." If so, then they should probably use the same grammar, no?

From Cambridge dictionary,

arts C1 [ plural ]: subjects, such as history, languages, and literature, that are not scientific subjects

There are several different majors/fields under each degree. We can have "Master of Science in Physics, Chemistry, Psychology, etc." and "Master of Arts in Linguistics, Political Science, Economics, etc." The point I am trying to make is that since the degrees are similar in the sense that they have multiple fields, shouldn't they both have the same noun form in the titles? Like, either both should have the countable or plural "arts" and "sciences", or both should have the uncountable "art" and "science".

There are departments/schools/programs with "sciences" in their name though: Natural Sciences, Earth Sciences, etc.

Why do they not have the same noun form in the degree titles? Why is it not "Master of Sciences"?

Answer 1

Overview

The central issue of question is the countable and uncountable usages of the words science and art.

Explanation

Following are two common usages of science:

• (uncountable): All activity that we think of as scientific (that is, all research based on the scientific method).
• (countable): Any field of science (that is, any specific discipline of scientific research).

We might think about applying the same pattern as above to the word art. Between usages of the two words, science and art, we find great similarity, but also a few differences.

Art is an activity, but it is one that produces objects.

Any of the following are common ways to refer to objects produced by artistic activity (such as drawings, paintings, or sculptures):

• Art (uncountable)
• Artwork (uncountable)
• Works of art (countable)

Not all kinds of artistic activity produce artwork.

• The visual arts are artistic activity that produces artwork, and include drawing, painting, and sculpting. (A visual art is any such field.)
• The visual arts are contrasted to the performing arts, which include music, dance, and theater. (A performing art is any such field.)

In some cases, we find that the word art confuses the activity with the objects.

As an example, the following two simple statements are not parallel:

• "I like science": From this statement, we understand that someone likes to study science.
• "I like art": From this statement, we think about admiring artwork, and lose the idea of studying. This loss gives us a reason to find a way to explain that someone likes to study art.

We need a way to refer to the activity of art, as distinct from artwork. The arts are all activity that we think of as artistic.

As the arts is a countable usage, we also have the singular form. An art is any field within the arts, or sometimes, any field within only the visual arts.

Putting together the above, following are common usages of art:

• (uncountable): One or more objects of art, the same meaning as artwork.
• (uncountable): All activity within the visual arts (not including performing arts).
• (countable): Any field within the visual arts (not including performing arts).
• (uncountable): All activity within the arts (including performing arts).
• (countable): Any field within the arts (including performing arts).

Since science is all activity that we think of as scientific, we have no strong reason to use the term the sciences. Yet, sometimes we want to emphasize the diversity and number of different fields, or to create a feeling that is general but also grand.

The sciences has the same meaning as science, but has a specific feeling that makes it uncommon except in certain literary contexts.

We can conclude with the following:

• Science is the common way to express all activity that we think of as scientific.
• The arts is the common way to express all activity that we think of as artistic.

Examples

For degrees, like a Bachelor's degree, we emphasize the activities, science and the arts. We call the degrees Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts. In titles, we often omit articles, otherwise we would use Master of the Arts. Master of Sciences would feel too general, as though someone had studied every field of science for a long time.

This patterns appears elsewhere.

Following are two examples, both related to the US government:

• The National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts are both agencies of the government. (The NSF might have been called the National Foundation for the Sciences, but this name may seem to emphasize the fields and their differences, rather than all of science together as a valuable pursuit.)

• The Constitution lists the powers of Congress.

  It describes one of the powers in the following text (Article I, Section 8, Clause 8):

  To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

  (Note that capitalization rules are different today than during the earlier period, which treated important common nouns the same as names and other proper nouns.)

  The text means that Congress has the power to pass laws related to intellectual property ("securing", "exclusive right"), specifically for copyright ("the arts", "authors", "writings") and for patents ("science", "inventors", "discoveries").

Answer 2

The short answer is that the words "art/arts" and "science/sciences" are used differently in various idiomatic ways.

Both "art" and "science" can be considered mass nouns, often referred to as uncountable nouns. If you had a collection of many pieces of art, you could refer to it all as "my art". Likewise, "science" can refer to all science collectively, for example, "the advance of modern science", or "the laws of science".

Both can also be used in the plural when referring to individual disciplines or types of art and science.

• "The arts" refers collectively to all forms of art, including visual arts, literature, performing arts, culinary arts, etc. In the case of 'Bachelor of Arts' this extends to humanities and sciences.

• "The sciences" refers collectively to all forms of science, including biology, physics, chemistry, etc.

However, whereas the singular "science" is always an umbrella term that incorporates all disciplines of science, the singular "art" is nearly always assumed by default to refer to visual art, in particular, painting and drawing. If someone said "I'm a scientist", most people would follow up with "what kind?", whereas if someone said "I'm an artist" there would likely be an assumption that they produced paintings or drawings, and not that they were a performing artist. Usually, one would specify "I'm a musician" or "I'm an actor".

It seems logical then that the titles "Bachelor of Arts" and "Bachelor of Science" are so.

Answer 3

The other answers have pointed to the distinction between art and arts in Modern English, a polysemous word borrowed from Latin via French. There is a historical dimension to this, which I think is a crucial part of the explanation.

If you went to university in medieval Europe, you wouldn't study Linguistics or Economics or anything like that, but instead all of the classical "seven liberal arts" comprising the medieval trivium and quadrivium: grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Having studied these, you'd receive a baccalaureus/magister artium degree, where it is to be noted that artium is the plural genitive of ars (to be translated something like "skill"). Since you studied several subjects, it made sense for the designation to be in plural, too. This usage seems to have continued into more modern times, even though modern universities are structured in completely different ways and even though subjects like arithmetic and astronomy are hardly considered liberal arts anymore.

Back in those times, on the other hand, there was no such thing as a "Faculty of Science". (Having a BA or MA in hand, you could go on to study law, medicine or theology, but not "Science".) The notion of (natural) science as a unified enterprise is much more modern, and the first faculties of science were founded relatively late (e.g. 1850 at the University of Copenhagen, almost 400 years after the foundation of the university itself). At this point, it probably made sense for the degree nomination to be in the singular, as well, though more historical research is needed to establish how all of this unfolded in detail. Incidentally, some languages do use the plural with science: Finnish universities, for example, confer the degree of luonnontieteiden kandidaatti, literally "bachelor of natural sciences".

Answer 4

I cannot improve upon the other two excellent answers but I'll just give a short answer.

Arts refers to the humanities, which is multi-disciplinary.

Science is multi-disciplinary as well. For example, both biologists and engineers have a Bachelors of Science. It's just that art is usually used to refer to something specific, whereas science is already a broad term.

Therefore, we don't use Bachelor of Art because art is something specific. Arts is meant to accomplish the same broad feel as science already does. It's not that science isn't multidisciplinary, it's that art isn't.

Answer 5

It's because of the long-standing idiom The Arts from which "Arts" has been taken as the name of that area of study.

Other disciplines lack this herritage and so are plainly named in the singluar.