Rationally Speaking #36 - Why Should We Care About Teaching the Humanities?
Rationally Speaking Podcast
English - June 05, 2011 14:51 - 50 minutes - 35 MB - ★★★★★ - 464 ratingsNatural Sciences Science Social Sciences philosophy science skepticism Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: Rationally Speaking #35 - What is Philosophy of Science Good for?
Universities all around the country are closing programs in the humanities, at least in part because of the increasing widespread attitude that higher education should be treated as a business, and that programs that bring in money in the form of high tuitions from students and external grants are to be prioritized. SUNY Albany, for example, announced in the Fall of 2010 that the departments of French, Italian, Classics, Russian and Theater Arts were being eliminated. So, what is the point of studying languages, literature, history or philosophy? Can we, and perhaps more importantly, should we quantify their value? Can we have universities that focus only on science and marketable skills?