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I have a hard time thinking this is a bad thing. While people should be free to study whatever entertains them, I think most of these majors contribute little t

I have a hard time thinking this is a bad thing. While people should be free to study whatever entertains them, I think most of these majors contribute little to making the world a better place or making us better people. Two exceptions, in theory, are History and Philosophy, because knowledge in these areas has the potential to improve the quality of thought and discourse. However, the views of most people on these subjects seem to be so guided by partisan identities that it's not clear that mere education can overcome that. People refuse to reason well because they want to fit in with their friends and family.

salawat 8y ago
I disagree vehemently. Like it or not we need excellent educators in ALL the humanities. That requires people with deep and diverse ways of being able to teach HOW to do it in as many different ways as possible. That means we need more exposure to more people. Discourse is hard and demanding. Hell, being able to communicate and know without a doubt your message has been received is hard and demanding, but most people can't be bothered to admit it.
- gizmo686 8y ago
  Are you sure we need ALL the humanities. There are an effectivly infinite number of potential avenues of exploration in the humanities (as in the sciences), so we cannot possibly host all of them. In general, I am in favor of letting academics self organize which areas get the attention and support at the ground level, but part of this is that some subjects will naturally lose interest and die off. Without naming names, there are certain fields within the academic humanities that I think worthy of this die off (insert rant on postmodernism) to both free up resources and let the good parts be absorbed into adjacent fields.
  - arto 8y ago
    "While history, English, and the rest have faded, only one set of humanities fields without a foot in the sciences has clearly held its own: the much newer (and smaller) disciplines the statistical agency joins together as ethnic, gender, and cultural studies."
    - gizmo686 8y ago
      Just because I want somethint, doesn't mean I think its true.
  - salawat 8y ago
    History, English, Philosophy, Communication, Anthropology, Archaeology, Art, Linguistics, Political Sciences... The cultural/gender studies I tend to lump in as subsets of those major subjects. I used to laugh at them coming from a Sciences background only to find that any advancement I could make filled me with doubt that the world was ready to use it responsibly. These fields are critical. We have no chance of being able to really breakthrough our major problems as a species without being able to understand what it means to be human, or even what the same damn mundane things look like from another culture or person's point of view. Trying to hand off something so portentous as something like halfway successful ubiquitous facial recognition to a society so poor in the humanities as our society today is like letting an infant learn to walk in a minefield. If we can't even coexist with the people around us without trying to strip everyone of civil rights, or getting into pissing matches about borders, we've got a long way to go before we start messing around with massively disruptive technologies with high social impacts. The recent social media fiascos and trends toward weaponized disinformation causing panic and hysteria should be evidence enough that we as people need to pull back and shore up the basics so we can at least ATTEMPT to try to reconcile the new avenues of life opened up by global interconnectivity of data and logistics with some of our more basic fears and prejudices to which we are ALL still subject. For heaven sake, with enough attention to detail, and a convincing enough Facebook profile, you can influence the sentiments of MASSES of people. It doesn't matter whether truth or lies... It gets said all the same. During Lincoln's time as President, he said something very poignant during the lead up to the Gettysburg address when he was staying at the Wills House, composing the Gettysburg Address. >"In my position, it is important that I should not say foolish things...[If you can help it! Is exclaimed from the audience]...It very often happens the only way to help it is to say nothing at all!" Imagine the horror he would experience to find out that we as a people have devised a technology that forces EVERYONE, not just one in a position of power to have to express the same torturous care in crafting our communications lest our "foolishthings" exact a cost through bloodshed or imprisonment? None of that can be done without good communication, understanding, and empathy for your fellow man. We all don't have to agree, and war will always happen, but Goddamnit, we should be able to formulate a better excuse than "It's the war on <insert nebulous concept here>". That can only be done with a thorough understanding of the ways we communicate as people, cultures, artisans, polities, etc. And EVERYONE has a duty to know this stuff, or at least be aware enough of it to keep themselves safe from those who would use it against them. It isn't easy, but it is the only way.
brbrodude 8y ago
We shall drop any concept of middle-class and lets get back to slave-master society already then. I'm almost sure we'll have more people contributing to making the world a better a place then.
- vixen99 8y ago
  Would you care to rephrase what you have written?
- umanwizard 8y ago
  You miss the mark completely. Humanities have traditionally been studied by the leisure classes who didn't need to work for a living.
  - TelmoMenezes 8y ago
    I think you make his point. In feudal societies, the majority of the people were stuck in devoting their lives to survival-oriented tasks, while only a privileged few could dedicate themselves to higher pursuits. And let's not forget that traditionally "STEM" was also reserved to the leisure classes. Now, in 2018, we have unthinkable prosperity compared to the feudal era. And yet, there is now this constant political pressure to get rid of the middle-class and have most people dedicate their lives to survival (a.k.a. "employability"). Don't take a year off work or it will look weird on your CV! Don't let the kids play freely, they must prepare for their Ivy League admissions! Etc, etc. Isn't it the main purpose of technology to free humanity of labor, so that we can pursue higher interests? And yet, technology seems to demand that everyone works for technology now. Must have a fucking STEM degree! (I do, btw). Weird, no?

salawat 8y ago

I disagree vehemently. Like it or not we need excellent educators in ALL the humanities. That requires people with deep and diverse ways of being able to teach HOW to do it in as many different ways as possible. That means we need more exposure to more people. Discourse is hard and demanding. Hell, being able to communicate and know without a doubt your message has been received is hard and demanding, but most people can't be bothered to admit it.

gizmo686 8y ago
Are you sure we need ALL the humanities. There are an effectivly infinite number of potential avenues of exploration in the humanities (as in the sciences), so we cannot possibly host all of them. In general, I am in favor of letting academics self organize which areas get the attention and support at the ground level, but part of this is that some subjects will naturally lose interest and die off. Without naming names, there are certain fields within the academic humanities that I think worthy of this die off (insert rant on postmodernism) to both free up resources and let the good parts be absorbed into adjacent fields.
- arto 8y ago
  "While history, English, and the rest have faded, only one set of humanities fields without a foot in the sciences has clearly held its own: the much newer (and smaller) disciplines the statistical agency joins together as ethnic, gender, and cultural studies."
  - gizmo686 8y ago
    Just because I want somethint, doesn't mean I think its true.
- salawat 8y ago
  History, English, Philosophy, Communication, Anthropology, Archaeology, Art, Linguistics, Political Sciences... The cultural/gender studies I tend to lump in as subsets of those major subjects. I used to laugh at them coming from a Sciences background only to find that any advancement I could make filled me with doubt that the world was ready to use it responsibly. These fields are critical. We have no chance of being able to really breakthrough our major problems as a species without being able to understand what it means to be human, or even what the same damn mundane things look like from another culture or person's point of view. Trying to hand off something so portentous as something like halfway successful ubiquitous facial recognition to a society so poor in the humanities as our society today is like letting an infant learn to walk in a minefield. If we can't even coexist with the people around us without trying to strip everyone of civil rights, or getting into pissing matches about borders, we've got a long way to go before we start messing around with massively disruptive technologies with high social impacts. The recent social media fiascos and trends toward weaponized disinformation causing panic and hysteria should be evidence enough that we as people need to pull back and shore up the basics so we can at least ATTEMPT to try to reconcile the new avenues of life opened up by global interconnectivity of data and logistics with some of our more basic fears and prejudices to which we are ALL still subject. For heaven sake, with enough attention to detail, and a convincing enough Facebook profile, you can influence the sentiments of MASSES of people. It doesn't matter whether truth or lies... It gets said all the same. During Lincoln's time as President, he said something very poignant during the lead up to the Gettysburg address when he was staying at the Wills House, composing the Gettysburg Address. >"In my position, it is important that I should not say foolish things...[If you can help it! Is exclaimed from the audience]...It very often happens the only way to help it is to say nothing at all!" Imagine the horror he would experience to find out that we as a people have devised a technology that forces EVERYONE, not just one in a position of power to have to express the same torturous care in crafting our communications lest our "foolishthings" exact a cost through bloodshed or imprisonment? None of that can be done without good communication, understanding, and empathy for your fellow man. We all don't have to agree, and war will always happen, but Goddamnit, we should be able to formulate a better excuse than "It's the war on <insert nebulous concept here>". That can only be done with a thorough understanding of the ways we communicate as people, cultures, artisans, polities, etc. And EVERYONE has a duty to know this stuff, or at least be aware enough of it to keep themselves safe from those who would use it against them. It isn't easy, but it is the only way.

brbrodude 8y ago

We shall drop any concept of middle-class and lets get back to slave-master society already then. I'm almost sure we'll have more people contributing to making the world a better a place then.

vixen99 8y ago
Would you care to rephrase what you have written?
umanwizard 8y ago
You miss the mark completely. Humanities have traditionally been studied by the leisure classes who didn't need to work for a living.
- TelmoMenezes 8y ago
  I think you make his point. In feudal societies, the majority of the people were stuck in devoting their lives to survival-oriented tasks, while only a privileged few could dedicate themselves to higher pursuits. And let's not forget that traditionally "STEM" was also reserved to the leisure classes. Now, in 2018, we have unthinkable prosperity compared to the feudal era. And yet, there is now this constant political pressure to get rid of the middle-class and have most people dedicate their lives to survival (a.k.a. "employability"). Don't take a year off work or it will look weird on your CV! Don't let the kids play freely, they must prepare for their Ivy League admissions! Etc, etc. Isn't it the main purpose of technology to free humanity of labor, so that we can pursue higher interests? And yet, technology seems to demand that everyone works for technology now. Must have a fucking STEM degree! (I do, btw). Weird, no?