The Value of Humanities

This series of 6 lectures is intended for graduates and undergraduates interested in the challenge of how we best defend the work of the humanities in today’s political and economic climates. The lectures offer a critical taxonomy of the ways in which advocacy for the humanities conventionally proceeds. Don’t expect polemic. My aim is to put the arguments through their paces: to work out the strengths and weakness of each kind of justification, and to see what is left standing at the end. A note on audience: the lectures should be as relevant to American as to British students. Many of the most influential contributors to the debate in recent years have been American. Part of my purpose, in the first two lectures especially, is to try to clarify the differences in the American and British education systems and political contexts and therefore in the kinds of defence available. First lecture in the Value of Humanities series in which Professor Helen Small discusses the broad political and social context in which to place these lectures. Reading list available.