News articles and commentary on the place of the humanities in the modern world.
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 [...]
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 [...]