The sick man of the University was dying. The times called for a heightened interest in hard sciences, mathematics and engineering for the sake of global dominance. And although the Iron Curtain had already fallen, its great hero again took the stage, taking an encore to champion the humanities. The bold Winston Churchill faced an audience at MIT in 1949, declaring, "No technical knowledge can outweigh knowledge of the humanities in the gaining of which philosophy and history walk hand in hand." The academic Cold War had begun. There was no longer the threat of burning books; it would be enough simply to forget them.
If the humanities have always faced the possibility of being worthless, in recent years they have sustained themselves with a new role: defining their own relevance. What are the humanities and how do they differ, if at all, from the social sciences? What does it mean to provide a liberal arts education? Like most debates, these discussions about the humanities are muddled with vague rhetoric, such as "culture" and "critical thinking."
These conversations occur on false premises. Arguments in favor of the humanities come from intellectuals defending their own positions - professors firing from the Western canon. We hear from scholars so obscure that they must be important. Are all these fields really necessary? And if they are, should not we have heard about them? When someone mentions the theorist Georg Luk
Read More
PARTING SHOT: No man is an island
By Ava MacBlane | 9 hours agoRetirement, as you can tell, has been treating me well. When people ask me now if I miss it, I laugh and tell them some things I definitely don't miss. But I don't always get to tell them about the things I really do miss.
PARTING SHOT: You never know unless you try
By Lexi Baker | 23 hours agoMy time at the University was shaped by the people who showed me grace and kindness and by those who had confidence in me, even when I struggled to have it in myself.
PARTING SHOT: A love letter to Cav Daily and Connection
By Ava Proehl | YesterdayMy time here taught me to look for the genuine, human connection in every moment.
