From theaustralian.com.au comes a fascinating piece on the need for humanities scholars to engage the wider public:
JOHN Armstrong is a rare creature, a university philosopher who thinks far too many humanities academics are talking to the wrong people, each other.
The author of scholarly studies of art, love and beauty, with a PhD from University College, London, politely dismisses the accepted academic wisdom that scholarly specialisation is essential.
[....]
"In principle, humanities could be bearers of knowledge for the whole society. One of the big things they could accomplish is to help people think about issues that have meaning and importance, and this can be done without a systematic engagement with the details of, say, history."
Armstrong accepts that a general audience will not want the detail academic experts expect - "You can't expect non-specialists to get interested in footnotes" - but neither is he especially upset if their absence is the price of putting the humanities back on the agenda: "It's not that we are short of information, we are short of communication."
Read the whole thing.
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