The Humanities and the Dream of America

2011-02-15
 |  Literary Criticism
The Humanities and the Dream of America

Author: Geoffrey Galt Harpham

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

ISBN: 9780226317014

Category: Literary Criticism

Page: 256

View: 601

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In this bracing and original book, Geoffrey Galt Harpham argues that today’s humanities are an invention of the American academy in the years following World War II, when they were first conceived as an expression of American culture and an instrument of American national interests. The humanities portray a “dream of America” in two senses: they represent an aspiration of Americans since the first days of the Republic for a state so secure and prosperous that people could enjoy and appreciate culture for its own sake; and they embody in academic terms an idealized conception of the American national character. Although they are struggling to retain their status in America, the concept of the humanities has spread to other parts of the world and remains one of America's most distinctive and valuable contributions to higher education. The Humanities and the Dream of America explores a number of linked problems that have emerged in recent years: the role, at once inspiring and disturbing, played by philology in the formation of the humanities; the reasons for the humanities’ perpetual state of “crisis”; the shaping role of philanthropy in the humanities; and the new possibilities for literary study offered by the subject of pleasure. Framed by essays that draw on Harpham’s pedagogical experiences abroad and as a lecturer at the U.S. Air Force Academy, as well as his vantage as director of the National Humanities Center, this book provides an essential perspective on the history, ideology, and future of this important topic.

Value and the Humanities

2020-06-29
 |  Literary Criticism
Value and the Humanities

Author: Zoe Hope Bulaitis

Publisher: Springer Nature

ISBN: 9783030378929

Category: Literary Criticism

Page: 269

View: 436

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Tracing the shift from liberal to neoliberal education from the nineteenth century to the present day, this open access book provides a rich and previously underdeveloped narrative of value in higher education in England. Value and the Humanities draws upon historical, financial, and critical debates concerning educational and cultural policy. Rather than writing a singular defence of the humanities against economic rationalism, Zoe Hope Bulaitis constructs a nuanced map of the intersections of value in the humanities, encompassing an exploration of policy engagement, scientific discourses, fictional representation, and the humanities in public life. The book articulates a kaleidoscopic range of humanities practices which demonstrate that although recent policy encourages higher education to be entirely motivated by outcomes, fiscal targets, and the acquisition of employability skills, the humanities continue to inspire and aspire beyond these limits. This book is a historically-grounded and theoretically-informed analysis of the value of the humanities within the context of the market.

Existentialism, Literature and the Humanities in Africa

2014-01-16
 |  Language Arts & Disciplines
Existentialism, Literature and the Humanities in Africa

Author: Chijioke Uwasomba

Publisher: Cuvillier Verlag

ISBN: 9783736945982

Category: Language Arts & Disciplines

Page: 526

View: 136

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The book is divided into seven sections and comprises forty-one articles from scholars from different persuasions and temperaments. It also includes an interview with the honouree. The major thrust of the collection centres on the place of the humanities in a drifting world and the need to chart a fresh course of action that could restore hope to humanity. The contributions also represent a melting-pot for the various branches of humanistic scholarship. We hope this book would serve as a resourceful compendium for scholars, students, policy makers and all lovers of knowledge production and dissemination”

History in the Humanities and Social Sciences

2022-12-31
 |  History
History in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Author: Richard Bourke

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 9781009231046

Category: History

Page: 427

View: 737

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Offers a collaborative exploration of the role of historical understanding in leading disciplines across the humanities and social sciences.

Nietzsche and the Modern Crisis of the Humanities

1995-01-01
 |  Philosophy
Nietzsche and the Modern Crisis of the Humanities

Author: Peter Levine

Publisher: SUNY Press

ISBN: 0791423271

Category: Philosophy

Page: 308

View: 506

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This is a critique of Nietzsche's theory of culture that proposes an alternative paradigm allowing a defense of the humanities against such Nietzschians as Leo Strauss and Derrida.

A Philosophical Exploration of the Humanities and Social Sciences

2022-11-07
 |  Philosophy
A Philosophical Exploration of the Humanities and Social Sciences

Author: Giorgio Baruchello

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

ISBN: 9783110760019

Category: Philosophy

Page: 619

View: 255

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Humor has been praised by philosophers and poets as a balm to soothe the sorrows that outrageous fortune’s slings and arrows cause inevitably, if not incessantly, to each and every one of us. In mundane life, having a sense of humor is seen not only as a positive trait of character, but as a social prerequisite, without which a person’s career and mating prospects are severely diminished, if not annihilated. However, humor is much more than this, and so much else. In particular, humor can accompany cruelty, inform it, sustain it, and exemplify it. Therefore, in this book, we provide a comprehensive, reasoned exploration of the vast literature on the concepts of humor and cruelty, as these have been tackled in Western philosophy, humanities, and social sciences, especially psychology. Also, the apparent cacophony of extant interpretations of these two concepts is explained as the inevitable and even useful result of the polysemy inherent to all common-sense concepts, in line with the understanding of concepts developed by M. Polanyi in the 20th century. Thus, a thorough, nuanced grasp of their complex mutual relationship is established, and many platitudes affecting today's received views, and scholarship, are cast aside.

Computer–Assisted Research in the Humanities

2014-05-18
 |  Reference
Computer–Assisted Research in the Humanities

Author: Joseph Raben

Publisher: Elsevier

ISBN: 9781483148809

Category: Reference

Page: 260

View: 448

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Computer-Assisted Research in the Humanities describes various computer-assisted research in the humanities and related social sciences. It is a compendium of data collected between November 1966 and May 1972 and published in Computer and the Humanities. The book begins with an analysis of language teaching texts including the DOVACK system, a program used for remedial reading instruction. It then discusses the objectives, types of computer used, and status of the Bibliographic On-line Display (BOLD), semiotic systems, augmented human intellect program, automatic indexing, and similar research. The remaining chapters present computer-assisted research on language and literature, philosophy, social sciences, and visual arts. Students who seek a single reference work for computer-assisted research in the humanities will find this book useful.