john8800
01-01-2010, 03:34 AM
It is the humanistic knowledge provided by the arts that offers "personal insight gained from experience and gleaned from reflection on experience", he said.
Humanistic scholarship ought to aspire to wisdom, but Mr Janik said that most academics "don't rise to the challenge, and address their peers rather than distressed mankind". This, he said, left the world at large to "fall back on 'how-to' books".
Both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment took place largely outside our universities. Mr Janik warned that today's academy could be in similar danger of missing the boat.
Humanistic scholarship ought to aspire to wisdom, but Mr Janik said that most academics "don't rise to the challenge, and address their peers rather than distressed mankind". This, he said, left the world at large to "fall back on 'how-to' books".
Both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment took place largely outside our universities. Mr Janik warned that today's academy could be in similar danger of missing the boat.