Rens Bod. A New History of the Humanities: The Search for Principles and Patterns from Antiquity to the Present
Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Rens Bod and James Turner each embarked a number of years ago on a dauntingly difficult project for which there was no precedent: to trace the history of the humanities across two millennia and many divergent disciplines. Imagine their surprise to discover one another only shortly before their books appeared in print at about the same time. These two remarkable studies illustrate the fragmentation of the humanities into separate disciplines and professional contexts, discernible in the significant differences in their treatments of the topic and in their separate but parallel geneses. At the same time, both books have much in common, from their commitment to a nuanced portrayal of a complex web of intellectual and institutional developments, to their call for a greater appreciation of the very durable achievements of humanistic inquiry. Taken singly or together, these volumes contribute a timely historical dimension to the current debates swirling around about the nature and value of the humanities. The disciplinary formations visible in universities today (which also vary by country) date from the relatively recent past (especially 1850–1900), but both authors show how they are rooted in much longer intellectual traditions.
Source: The American Historical Review
Author: Ann Blair
Institution: Harvard University
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2322453908