News articles and commentary on the place of the humanities in the modern world.
Literature, therapy, and healing (Andrew Solomon, The Guardian)
How language -- its clarity, immediacy, and nuance -- is vital to both patients and doctors, for it can overcome the split between scientific specialization and the experience of suffering. From the article: Many of the [...]
In Praise of Encyclopedias (Joseph Epstein, Wall Street Journal)
Has the age of the encyclopedic excellence passed us by, or can (or should) it be revived? The author praises the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica (1910-11) as "the last great encyclopedia." From the [...]
Science first, humanities later (Vinod Khosla, Medium)
Science first, humanities later: logic and computer science beat Jane Austen and Shakespeare. From the editorial: Though Jane Austen and Shakespeare might be important, they are far less important than many other things that are more [...]
Humanities fed the soul in communist Romania (Irina Dumistrescu, Zocalo)
Humanities fed the soul in communist Romania: how the study of the humanities kept people alive, and allowed them to find truth when surrounded by falsehood. From the article: When I heard this story, I [...]
The Joy of Reading (Ceridwen Dovey, The New Yorker)
The joy of reading: can reading offer therapy to those in distress and provide a greater sense of well-being? From the article: For all avid readers who have been self-medicating with great books their entire lives, [...]
The Republic of Science (Jim Tankersley, Washington Post)
Reading philosophy and economic theory, Charles Koch turns his business acumen and ambition to the spread of research ideas. From the article and interview: Polanyi’s “The Republic of Science: Its Political and Economic Theory,” published in [...]
The Humanities Code: how literature helps to write software (J. Bradford Hipps, New York Times)
The Humanities Code: how literature helps to write software. The author talks about the creative process required to compose ideas in all languages, including the technological. From the article: I’ve worked in software for years [...]
Transhumanism: what does the future hold? (Washington Post)
Transhumanism: what does the future hold? The Washington Post hosts a series of commentaries on the value and validity, the promise and peril, of transhumanism, with its promise to "transcend the human condition." So do we [...]
Can the humanities provide the skills that employers find missing? (Karsten Strauss, Forbes)
Can the humanities provide the skills that employers find missing? A survey of employers shows that college graduates lack both the "hard" and "soft" skills they are seeking, from writing to problem solving. From the [...]
Free speech and the humanities (Camille Paglia, The Smart Set)
Free speech and the humanities: do the humanities foster, or inhibit, freedom of expression? The author decries the "identity politics" and "improper advocacy" among the humanities, which undermine open, rigorous inquiry. From the article: The problem of [...]