{"id":11148,"date":"2020-12-14T09:19:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T14:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=11148"},"modified":"2021-06-10T08:35:16","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T13:35:16","slug":"what-are-the-humanities-two-cultures-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/12\/14\/what-are-the-humanities-two-cultures-redux\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the humanities? (Two cultures, redux)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As a humanistic scholar within an interdisciplinary school, I&#8217;m often put in a position to distinguish how the humanities differ from the social and natural sciences. There is a long tradition of distinguishing between these &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/mediaenviron.org\/article\/13700-mediating-art-and-science-media-beyond-the-two-cultures\">two cultures<\/a>,&#8221; with the most frequent point of focus, for humanists, being that they concern themselves with human meaning and interpretation, not with causal explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s my most recent attempt to articulate this difference into a simple distillation. Comments welcome. (This post is timely, with the humanities being somewhat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/news\/2020\/12\/07\/u-vermont-faculty-members-pledge-fight-planned-cuts-liberal-arts?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&amp;utm_campaign=a3dd98e9f4-DNU_2020_COPY_02&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-a3dd98e9f4-197677769&amp;mc_cid=a3dd98e9f4&amp;mc_eid=bfab58fed2\">under attack<\/a> at my own institution; see <a id=\"footnote-1-ref\" href=\"#footnote-1\" title=\"link to footnote\">note [1]<\/a> below for more on that. If the difference articulated here isn&#8217;t enough to make the case for the importance of the humanities, what is?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>The natural sciences seek pattern and meaning in the empirical phenomena of the world in general<\/strong><em>. <\/em>They are guided by the goal of attaining ever more truthful <em>correspondence<\/em> between the meanings and patterns they identify (theories, models, explanations, et al.) and the meanings and patterns found in the world.<\/li><li><strong>The social sciences seek pattern and meaning in the empirical phenomena of the <em>social<\/em> world specifically.<\/strong> Like the natural sciences, they are guided by the goal of ever more truthful correspondence between their theoretical observations and the social world(s) they observe. (Question: does this make certain kinds of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2020\/12\/02\/magazine\/tree-communication-mycorrhiza.html\">forestry<\/a> a social science? Perhaps.)<\/li><li><strong>The arts and humanities <\/strong>(see <a id=\"footnote-2-ref\" href=\"#footnote-2\" title=\"link to footnote\">note [2]<\/a> below) <strong>express, interpret, and evaluate the patterns and meanings humans find in their efforts to live<\/strong>. They are guided by ideals that are themselves avowedly contestable: ideals such as beauty, goodness, value, meaning, justice, and others, which they take to be more humanly &#8220;meaningful&#8221; than simple correspondence. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This means that the social and natural sciences share the normative assumption of \u201ctruth\u201d as \u201ccorrespondence to reality,\u201d while the humanities (and arts) do not. The latter begin from the premise that correspondence, or at least representational correspondence, is one kind of truth, but not the only one and likely not the best, &#8220;deepest,&#8221; &#8220;highest,&#8221; or most satisfying one. Notions of truth, for humanists, are therefore at play and uncertain; they must be negotiated alongside the effort to make sense of the world (especially the world of meanings and values). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At their best, humanists strive to be self-reflexive on the question of normativity itself. This makes humanities fields less amenable to &#8220;paradigmatic stability,\u201d and more subject to a constant &#8220;regress&#8221; (which can also be seen as progress) into multiple perspectives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This doesn&#8217;t mean that humanists don&#8217;t arrive at consensuses within their fields. Few literary critics would dispute the value of Shakespeare, the Bible, or the Mahabharata for understanding the &#8220;human condition.&#8221; Few historians would dispute that something like &#8220;the Renaissance&#8221; actually happened or that &#8220;Chinese civilization&#8221; exists (or existed). But they tend, in principle, to recognize that such consensuses are relative and not guaranteed, and that the way to establish them is through the work of humanistic expression itself, not by virtue of a direct correspondence between those things (Shakespeare, the Mahabharata, China) and the world. In other words, any of these things can be disputed, but if you cannot write a persuasive and compelling book (or other document) about it, then you might as well give up on the idea.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The humanities are therefore essential to making sense of the world &#8212; a world that doesn&#8217;t reduce itself to a single &#8220;sense,&#8221; but to many &#8212; and to  communicating about the sense(s) that is (are) made. Unlike the sciences, which strive for truths that <em>stabilize<\/em> the world by <em>corresponding<\/em> to it, the humanities keep the world alive in the richness of its instabilities, uncertainties, and negotiations fated to remain ever open. They seek to retain the vibrating intensity at the heart of our human experience of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are, of course, ideals. In theory, the humanities should therefore be more open to multiple perspectives, but in practice they are subject to consensus building through \u201cgroupthink,\u201d since that is how humans work (as social scientists can easily demonstrate). Since this isn&#8217;t a problem specific to the humanities &#8212; it&#8217;s true for all human activities &#8212; it needn&#8217;t be fatal to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All of this gets scrambled when humanists begin to call themselves &#8220;posthumanists.&#8221; I address that in a forthcoming article, which I&#8217;ll share when it&#8217;s appropriate. But, for starters, let&#8217;s just say that if the humanities are concerned with the patterns and meanings humans find in being human, we can only ever be human within the larger contexts that enable our humanity to flourish. To the extent that some concepts of &#8220;the human&#8221; have tended to forget those broader contexts, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upress.umn.edu\/book-division\/books\/what-is-posthumanism\">posthumanists<\/a> both remind us of them and point at ways we may be transcending those concepts of the human as we go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/liu.se\/en\/research\/the-posthumanities-hub\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"160\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub-400x160.png?resize=400%2C160&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11151\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?resize=400%2C160&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?resize=300%2C120&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?resize=275%2C110&amp;ssl=1 275w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?resize=768%2C307&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?w=1120&amp;ssl=1 1120w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/10\/liu-tema-genus-posthumanities-hub.png?w=1000 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code><p id=\"footnote-1\"><\/p><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Note 1<\/strong>: More on the proposed gutting of humanities programs at the University of Vermont can be heard on <a href=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2020\/12\/13\/the-deeper-dig-what-humanities-cuts-could-mean-for-uvm\/\">this podcast from VT Digger<\/a>. A quote from religion professor and Humanities Center associate director Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst captures much of the argument in defense of the Religion Department, which is threatened with closure: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>It is shocking to me as a scholar of race and religion that, in a moment where we saw the largest protests in American history this summer around Black Lives Matter, where we&#8217;re seeing these unprecedented spikes in hate crimes against religious minorities, and where we&#8217;re seeing the erosion of our public discourse around Christian supremacy &#8212; to say that you want to cut humanities departments, where that is where you learn about about those issues broadly, I think you\u2019re just destroying the university. I don\u2019t think there\u2019ll be a university left. <a href=\"#footnote-1-ref\" title=\"return to text\">&#x21a9;<\/a><\/p><p id=\"footnote-2\"><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Note 2<\/strong>: I acknowledge an ambiguity in combining &#8220;the arts&#8221; with &#8220;the humanities&#8221; as I have done here. The arts and humanities are fields, while artists and humanists are practitioners working within those fields. The arts are generally more focused on expression and creation; the humanities, on interpretation and evaluation. Artists who are <em>not<\/em> humanists practice and\/or teach the craft or techniques of art without dealing with the theory of what that art means. To the extent that practitioners of both deal with all of these, they all qualify as &#8220;humanists&#8221; or &#8220;humanistic scholars.&#8221;   <a title=\"return to text\" href=\"#footnote-2-ref\">&#x21a9;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code><\/code><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a humanistic scholar within an interdisciplinary school, I&#8217;m often put in a position to distinguish how the humanities differ from the social and natural sciences. There is a long tradition of distinguishing between these &#8220;two cultures,&#8221; with the most frequent point of focus, for humanists, being that they concern themselves with human meaning and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[203,4437],"tags":[123664,138993,455188,628407,109062,24829,628637,628486,628487,138995,628638,123505,260,44829],"class_list":["post-11148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academe","category-science","tag-academe","tag-arts","tag-c-p-snow","tag-humanism","tag-humanities","tag-interpretation","tag-natural-sciences","tag-posthumanism","tag-posthumanities","tag-sciences","tag-social-sciences","tag-two-cultures","tag-university-of-vermont","tag-values"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-2TO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7208,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2014\/01\/20\/anthropocene-readings\/","url_meta":{"origin":11148,"position":0},"title":"Anthropocene readings","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"January 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 I'm thinking of making my Spring semester graduate class, \"Environment, Science, and Society in the Anthropocene,\" into a semi-public seminar series, with a blog where we will share links to readings and videos as well as discussions. (Actual meetings will not be online, but will be open to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Anthropocene&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Anthropocene","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/anthropo_scene\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clark","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2014\/01\/Clark-183x275.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5128,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2011\/08\/01\/environmental-humanities-the-challenge-of-multidisciplinarity\/","url_meta":{"origin":11148,"position":1},"title":"Environmental Humanities &amp; the Challenge of Multidisciplinarity","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"August 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"CALL FOR PAPERS: Environmental Humanities and the Challenge of Multidisciplinarity A Workshop at the 13th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, \u201cThe Ethical Challenge of Multidisciplinarity: Reconciling \u2018The Three Narratives\u2019\u2014Art, Science, and Philosophy\u201d University of Cyprus, Nicosia July 2 \u2013 6, 2012 THEME OF\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8924,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2016\/07\/23\/ecocritical-blooms\/","url_meta":{"origin":11148,"position":2},"title":"Ecocritical blooms","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"July 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Lexington's Ecocritical Theory and Practice Series just got its own catalogue, which tells us the series is doing well. As is Wilfrid Laurier's Environmental Humanities series, Routledge's series of the same, Bloomsbury's Environmental Cultures, and\u00a0others in the same vein.\u00a0I can hardly keep up. Note: The original post included an incorrect\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2134,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2011\/01\/05\/environmental-humanities-series-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":11148,"position":3},"title":"Environmental Humanities series update","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"January 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Consider the Wilfrid Laurier University Press Environmental Humanities Series for your next manuscript... The new series poster is here. The Environmental Humanities Series features research that adopts and adapts the methods of the humanities to clarify the cultural meanings associated with environmental debate. The scope of the series is broad.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1349,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2010\/09\/30\/nrc-doctoral-programs-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":11148,"position":4},"title":"NRC doctoral programs report","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"September 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Inside Higher Ed has an interesting piece on the just-released National Research Council report ranking doctoral programs across the U.S. Among other things, the report is criticized for the 4-5 year time lag in producing it, its confusing methodologies, inaccuracies in data, and its disciplinary approach (which is ill-suited for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2123,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2011\/01\/05\/aess-confronting-complexity-conference\/","url_meta":{"origin":11148,"position":5},"title":"AESS Confronting Complexity conference","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"January 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I really should be promoting this more than I have, since my colleagues are working hard at organizing it. The theme lends itself well to the kinds of topics discussed on this blog, and the association is very interdisciplinary, spanning across the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11148"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11322,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11148\/revisions\/11322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}