Introduction by Matthias Smalbrugge - Humanity and humanities

Humanities: the notion is strongly related to the glorious past of classical humanism. Who wouldn’t think of authors such as Petrarch, Erasmus or Cellini and Rabelais? Yet, this glorious past is probably more a matter of our reception of certain aspects of the Renaissance than a trustworthy picture of a history that was never uncontested. Petrarch rediscovered Antiquity and its authors but had to fight the cast shadow of Augustine, Erasmus battled against the threats of free choice and tolerance, Cellini turned himself against conventionalism and Rabelais ridiculed the habits and customs of his time. Humanities were about human dignity, freedom and scholarly research. But they were never uncontested. However, they managed to become an important part of scholarly education and once the universities got their modern outlook in the early 19th century, the notion of Bildung wrapped up many aspects of what the humanities stood for.    

Times may have changed, but humanities are still not uncontested. However, threats have changed since the days of early humanism. The modern university seems to pay lip service to the importance of humanities. Not only it focuses rather on goals that can be easily quantified: number of students, ranking, grants and so on; it also feels the need to justify its role in a society where priorities have changed and where humanities are considered as nice to have instead of need to have. For instance, notions such as utility and applicability seem to be of greater importance than they ever were before. Is the knowledge that results from academic research something we can immediately use in our daily lives? If the society invests in academic research, what then is the return on investment?  

Putting it differently, the relationship between society and academia has changed indeed. The idea that a culture needs to be understood to be able to discern its patterns and transformations, has seemingly been put aside. Of course, it is very useful to learn Chinese because China will be the biggest trading partner. Indeed, that is useful and Chinese, in that case, is directly applicable. But knowledge of its culture, the way it conceives of the relationship between individual and community, is not directly applicable. Right. Yet, in the long run, it is this kind of knowledge that allows us to understand how to avoid conflicts, even wars. It allows us to understand how Europe and China each created their own culture (politically, socially, religiously) and how they pursue their goals. Moreover, it helps us to understand how different cultures understand human existence and how they face global pluralism.   

Notwithstanding these valuable insights, it is obvious that humanities are facing rough times. They tend to become the stepchild of the alma mater. What then is its future, what is its real role, what is at stake when humanities tend to disappear?