Humanities within the bounds of humility

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2019

Abstract

This rather intemperate article asks whether a history of the “inhumanities” of the sort suggested by Will Bridges really helps us understand what the humanities have contributed to human history and how they might be more socially responsible in the future. It suggests that although humanists have certainly been guilty of elitism and ex-clusions, they have also, often, been the ones asking us to attend more closely to others and encouraging non-elites to join their ranks. The essay takes issue with a too-baggy definition of the “humanist” and a self-regarding conviction that everyone secretly wants to be one. Blaming humanists for all of humankind’s “inhumanities,” and asking us to remedy this by trying, now, to address every one, distorts humanism’s mixed record and real achievements and tasks today’s humanists with an unrealistic mission that might do more harm than good.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

History of Humanities

First Page

47

Last Page

57

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