WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE HUMANITIES?

In this consideration, it is more fitting to start off with a historical rehearsal of the Renaissance—that single distinctive moment in human history that recaptured the greatness of the human spirit; a reaffirmation of human nobility; a reassertion of human power to create her/his destiny; a vehement specter of defiance to the religious arrogance of the Medieval Period, a.k.a. the Dark Ages; the threshold that gave way to a new age, the Modern Era.

The Modern Era as we all know has vigorously presented itself in human history by way of the following successive milestones: the Scientific Revolution which was a reclamation of the grandeur of the sciences from the dogmatic excesses of the Middle Ages; the Age of Enlightenment which was a celebration of the immense creativity of the human spirit by way of the Humanities, i.e., the Arts, History, and Literature; and the Industrial Revolution geared to serve the interests and purposes of humanity by pragmatizing the achievements and wonders of science in the instruments of modern technology.

But in the course of time the same achievements generated a whole new way of looking at life which to the detriment of humanity has even recruited the human being to serve the edifice put up and institutionalized by science and technology. A total reversal of the original blue print of Renaissance Humanism: Science and technology serving the interests and purposes of humanity.

Now, it’s the other way around. The whole situation saw the emergence of positivistic philosophy that has placed philosophy beneath the wings of science as well as the rise of physicalistic science that has reduced all sciences to the mold of physics. In other words, physics had dominated the sciences. So that if a discipline claimed to be a science, it should be able to translate its propositions, claims and theories in the language of physics. Failure to do so made that discipline a pseudo-science.

But this is not the end of the story. The spirit of philosophical resistance has continued to move onwards. And now, we are in the post-modern era. Modern science and technology has suffocated the very human in us. The defiance has been issued and articulated.

We are now poised to reclaim the spirit of the Renaissance—the spirit of human greatness and the Humanities are strategically on the spot.