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Faculty to Discuss Future of Humanities

The future of the humanities is the topic of an open forum next week at Smith Warehouse

The future of the humanities is the subject of an open forum next week at Duke.

A group of faculty is convening Thursday, April 25, to discuss concerns about the long-term outlook for humanities disciplines, a theme common these days in American higher education.

The meeting will be from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Smith Warehouse garage, Bay 4. All are welcome.

"We want to make the constructive arguments for the worth of humanistic study and scholarship," said Owen Flanagan, a philosophy professor and one of three faculty members organizing the event. "We're concerned for our disciplines, for younger faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students, and we'd like to re-articulate the arguments in favor of the liberal arts in the modern university."

Flanagan said the meeting is the result of concerns voiced repeatedly by faculty about the humanities, arts and social sciences and the public's perceptions about their value to society. 

Flanagan hopes the forum will spark a conversation lively enough to continue with more forums next year.