How the humanities heal: a doctor’s perspective (Audrey Shafer, Medscape)
A physician recalls not only her own past, but also the history of health care that involves the greater story about the human condition.
14
03, 2017
5
03, 2017
Are the humanities “useless”? If so, do they still provide a use?
Are the humanities "useless"? If so, do they still provide a use? Said Hui Shih to Chuang-tzu: “These sayings of yours are useless.” “It is only with people who know about the useless that there is any point in talking about uses. In all the immensity of heaven and earth, a man uses no more than [...]
20
02, 2017
Humanities citizens and industrial consumers (Sarah Churchwell, Times Higher Education)
How the humanities may lead us to greater self-knowledge, beyond the demands of the market place.
15
02, 2017
The humanities at Davos (YaleNews)
The humanities at Davos: Yale's President Peter Salovey, a scholar of emotional intelligence, speaks at the World Economic Forum about the place of humanities. From the article: Speaking at the reception ... Salovey emphasized the ways that the humanities can promote understanding, such as how the study of languages can provide insights into a culture, reading literature can [...]
8
02, 2017
The lily and the river
The lily and the river: how much do we presume about our knowledge of the future, and how firmly rooted is our knowledge of our origins? Two fables from Renaissance scientists and polymaths: The lily set itself on the bank of the river Ticino, and the current swept away both the bank and the lily. Leonardo da [...]
4
02, 2017
Mountain shadows, mountain light
The balance needed for wholeness.
1
02, 2017
Historians and health care (Emily Michelson, Times Higher Education)
Historians and health care: how the humanities can heal, body and soul. From the article: From my particular hospital bed, it seemed increasingly, blindingly clear how much humanities and sciences – in this case history and medicine – truly complemented each other. As Gretchen Busl wrote last year, training in the humanities teaches us “the language necessary [...]
24
01, 2017
The highest mode of life
The highest mode of life: a proposal from 2500 years ago, relevant today in all dimensions. If on the other hand I tell you that to let no day pass without discussing goodness [aretês] and all the other subjects about which you hear me talking and examining both myself and others is really the very [...]
22
01, 2017
Humanities aid the growth of STEM (Neil Kobitz, Chronicle for Higher Education)
Humanities aid the growth of STEM: a mathematics professor calculates their value, an important formula...when others are now estimating the worth of the NEH as close to zero. From the editorial: ... [F]or STEM majors, as much as for other future professionals, a broad background in the humanities is likely to give them a tremendous advantage in [...]
15
01, 2017
Mocking the humanities (George Will, Pittsburgh Tribune)
Mocking the humanities: a pundit recounts how a scientist used parody -- a classic literary mode of expression -- to mock academic practices in the humanities. From the commentary: Alan Sokal's point ... was that intellectual inquiry in the humanities often is not open. The humanities, he today tells The Chronicle, had become a “subculture” [...]