3 ms·
Since the Industrial Revolution, scientific progress has far outstripped progress in the humanities. We've gotten very good at answering the how, but not the wh
by prottog 3y ago
Since the Industrial Revolution, scientific progress has far outstripped progress in the humanities. We've gotten very good at answering the how, but not the why (or why not).
- PeterWhittaker 3y agoI guess that depends on your POV: I’m pretty much a reductionist, so I find the various hypotheses re where the universe and life come from to be quite compelling. There is no why, really. The more interesting question revolves around should, from an ethical/moral perspective. The analytic tradition so favoured in the UK since Hume has been shown to be cracked (read, e.g., The Women Are Up To Something). Since WWII, progress has been made on that question, but Hume’s acolytes still cling dearly to mind, perhaps because of that same reductionism.
- pessimizer 3y agoThe humanities were discarded for entertainment and marketing, and the criticism of entertainment and marketing, ultimately based on predicting/motivating sales and attempting to explain when those sales predictions turn out to be wrong.