News articles and commentary on the place of the humanities in the modern world.
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 [...]
Happy graduation, humanities students!
Happy graduation, humanities students! "Better a few good scholars than many indifferent ones." You embody the meaning of George Washington's mandate to James McHenry, to paraphrase: it is infinitely better to have a few good [...]
Valuing liberal arts in the age of STEM (Steven Lindner, NY Daily News)
How liberal arts can be, despite conventional thinking, the pathway to economic success. From the article: Employers' demand for professionals with a liberal arts background might actually be greater than generally perceived, largely because their [...]
Beyond Op-Eds: New Ways of Advocating the Humanities (W. Robert Connor, Inside Higher Ed)
Beyond Op-Eds: New Ways of Advocating the Humanities: the former director of the National Humanities Center discusses ways to get teachers, and students, more involved in explaining how and why the humanities are important. From [...]
Did Newton practice “junk science”? (Washington Post)
Did Newton practice junk science? A journalist takes issue with Newton's preoccupation with alchemy. As she puts it: ... Newton was super into alchemy, a medieval "science" that preceded chemistry. Practitioners believed it was possible to [...]
The master economy and student majors (Jeffrey Dorfman, Forbes)
The master economy and student majors: should states grant incentives to students to select a particular course of study? Dorfman says no: The logic behind such proposals is that state funding should be concentrated on [...]
The fight over liberal arts education in Japan (Rie Mori, AAC&U)
The fight over liberal arts education in Japan. The humanities and liberal arts are under pressure from the government, but have allies in the business community. From the article: the national government wants to focus national [...]