KEYWORDS: Humanities, human condition, technocrats
SUMMARY: The humanities reflect us, shape us, provoke us and can even help us become better human beings. Yet, as an increasing number of technocrats raise the alarm about the lack of jobs and skilled people, studying the humanities is becoming less desirable. This pragmatic turn has cost the humanities their earlier lustre and meant that more of us humanists need to defend the field's enduring value.
The humanities matter. I admit this might sound defensive. There's been a lot of criticism directed at the field during the recent economic crisis, so humanists like myself might be accused of overreacting. But what if I put it to you as a declarative statement: the humanities matter. Now we're asked - well, you are - to at least consider that certain intellectual pursuits might be perennially important. Anthropology, philosophy, religion, literature, music - the list goes on - permit us to travel across time and space asking questions that move us toward a deeper understanding of concepts like change, place and the human condition.
As academic disciplines, the humanities are essentially inquiry-based communities. And, even if they aren't card-holding students themselves, people from all walks of life can engage with them. Through lectures, exhibitions, film, libraries, the Internet, alone or with friends, the humanities can be accessed. What other field permits the kind of self-gazing that helps us see who we are and who we wish to become? And where the 'we' is none too specific or general? Admittedly, all this might be too existentialist for them, but the technocrats in our midst stand to gain from the humanities' ability to highlight that we are - them included - a diverse, values-driven, messy lot, and that no one group will ever hold all the answers. There's humility in that lesson. And, if we know anything about today's state of affairs, it's that humility is sorely lacking. Now, how can we say that self-gazing is just a time-waster?
Maybe I take for granted that social and self understanding are an essential part of my life. In writing this article, I need to ask myself why the humanities matter to me. After some self-gazing, I've concluded that I'm troubled that we struggle to co-exist and prosper on what is now - yes, science has proven to be helpful here - a damaged planet. Knowingly, I turn to sources like poems and stories, philosophical musings, old and new music to make me feel more connected to the continual flow of pain and suffering. Does this inclination which I've turned into an ability make me employable? Is feeling others' pain and suffering, including my own, a skill? I think so. It even has a name: empathy. Those same sources also make it utterly clear that the past informs the present; that change might be constant but feeds on change itself; and that our place is as much about status as it is about geography. The humanities can facilitate these kinds of profoundly meaningful lessons; indeed, they have for me.
Critics tend to undervalue the transferable skills gained through formal studies of the humanities. Thinking skills like analyzing and synthesizing, communication skills like speaking and writing, and general organizational skills like project and time management, are examples of transferable skills. Also known as 'soft skills', they don't, however, amount to subject matter expertise. A humanist is not an economist, a political scientist nor a financial analyst, and that is viewed as a weakness. The humanist cannot "fix" social or economic problems, say the critics. According to their (narrow) perspective, intellectual pursuits are rather useless given the sheer quantity and urgency of today's problems: we need people who know how to fix problems not just deconstruct them.
Yet something rather sinister happens when human knowledge, exploration, and growth start to be conflated with things like 'market economy,' 'commodity,' and 'output': we begin to lose a sense of perspective - or should I say perspectives? As a result, our emotional life flattens and we become less empathetic. Our fellow human beings start to appear one-dimensional, like sheets of paper rather than corporal souls. And while paper is malleable, in the end, it's also disposable. Without the ability to connect, people can no longer see themselves reflected in others. Disconnection grows into something far worse, dislocation.
Writing, speaking, making, composing, devising, unearthing, these are acts that the humanist performs. Through them, she connects, locates herself in the broader social context, and helps untangle her society's problems. In other words, the humanities help to preserve her humanity. Yet this achievement benefits us all: through the humanist, we see what it is we can become - what we forgot we could become. As we regain perspective, our memories start to return. We fold ourselves into paper planes and once more travel across time and space.
Let the technocrats raise their alarm, we humanists shall rise above the din and co-create a gentler home.
ADDENDUM: Click here for YouTube video of Kobayashi's Human Condition, Part 1 (1959).
SUMMARY: The humanities reflect us, shape us, provoke us and can even help us become better human beings. Yet, as an increasing number of technocrats raise the alarm about the lack of jobs and skilled people, studying the humanities is becoming less desirable. This pragmatic turn has cost the humanities their earlier lustre and meant that more of us humanists need to defend the field's enduring value.
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| The Human Condition, Dir. Masaki Kobayashi |
As academic disciplines, the humanities are essentially inquiry-based communities. And, even if they aren't card-holding students themselves, people from all walks of life can engage with them. Through lectures, exhibitions, film, libraries, the Internet, alone or with friends, the humanities can be accessed. What other field permits the kind of self-gazing that helps us see who we are and who we wish to become? And where the 'we' is none too specific or general? Admittedly, all this might be too existentialist for them, but the technocrats in our midst stand to gain from the humanities' ability to highlight that we are - them included - a diverse, values-driven, messy lot, and that no one group will ever hold all the answers. There's humility in that lesson. And, if we know anything about today's state of affairs, it's that humility is sorely lacking. Now, how can we say that self-gazing is just a time-waster?
Maybe I take for granted that social and self understanding are an essential part of my life. In writing this article, I need to ask myself why the humanities matter to me. After some self-gazing, I've concluded that I'm troubled that we struggle to co-exist and prosper on what is now - yes, science has proven to be helpful here - a damaged planet. Knowingly, I turn to sources like poems and stories, philosophical musings, old and new music to make me feel more connected to the continual flow of pain and suffering. Does this inclination which I've turned into an ability make me employable? Is feeling others' pain and suffering, including my own, a skill? I think so. It even has a name: empathy. Those same sources also make it utterly clear that the past informs the present; that change might be constant but feeds on change itself; and that our place is as much about status as it is about geography. The humanities can facilitate these kinds of profoundly meaningful lessons; indeed, they have for me.
Critics tend to undervalue the transferable skills gained through formal studies of the humanities. Thinking skills like analyzing and synthesizing, communication skills like speaking and writing, and general organizational skills like project and time management, are examples of transferable skills. Also known as 'soft skills', they don't, however, amount to subject matter expertise. A humanist is not an economist, a political scientist nor a financial analyst, and that is viewed as a weakness. The humanist cannot "fix" social or economic problems, say the critics. According to their (narrow) perspective, intellectual pursuits are rather useless given the sheer quantity and urgency of today's problems: we need people who know how to fix problems not just deconstruct them.
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| May Day celebrations in Paris, France (2014) |
Let the technocrats raise their alarm, we humanists shall rise above the din and co-create a gentler home.
ADDENDUM: Click here for YouTube video of Kobayashi's Human Condition, Part 1 (1959).
