With the ever changing face of knowledge, we should look to history to understand the worth of the humanities. Lundagård’s Jens Hansen follows up on the breakfast debate of Wednesday morning.
“The ancestor of every action is a thought”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803- 1882)
What are we without humanities? This is a question you propose to the doubters, we may focus our attention to study science or law but we can always relate back to the humanities. An area where the knowledge of yesteryear is upheld as it has been since this institution was founded several centuries ago. Some would call them outdated principles which cling on against the ever evolving ‘modern world.’
I then ask you, should we destroy the very foundations on which we stand?
To regress in no longer accepting the worth of subjects which are passed in judgement purely because their worth can’t simply be measured in financial gain. Has ‘knowledge’ lost its place amongst the values which once were central?
If we look historically; since the enlightenment of the 18th century, change has come through the contributions of sciences and art. In broadening our perspectives of the world, knowledge has been at the fore front of it, though there has always been one binding factor; the humanistic nature of our endeavors. Be it the language we speak our the books we seek to heighten our understanding of the world around us, this wanton thirst for knowledge sparked not only understanding but a climate for change.
Take for example Captain James Cook, 18th century navigator and explorer, a man who circumnavigated the globe and explored much of Oceania. Something which occurred through the understanding of not just natural science but the communicative elements which made cross-cultural exchanges possible. The understanding of language and ethnography are key factors which bound together the technological and scientific elements of the endeavour.
If you would disband the very foundations of learning you may aswell do away with all the other so called ‘traditions’ which remain so very central. In not only raising the image of the university but accounts for the unique learning environment which we are fortunate enough to be offered.
Why is it that we in Sweden have cast aside the worth of humanities instead of embracing it as part of the modern world? said panel member Christoffer Ivarsson, founder of ‘Project Athena’ a foundation which seeks to reiterate the importance of humanism and humanistic studies. Answers to this maybe found in the evolution of the state and how what we once deemed to be important has now been cast aside.
On the quest of knowledge and in the evolution of science, communication and law, humanities have remained, as timeless entities which have bound together the ideas which have contributed to the continual growth of knowledge.
