Rationally Speaking Podcast Rationally Speaking #36 - Why Should We Care About Teaching the Humanities?
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Jun 5, 2011 AI Snips
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Education Beyond Job Training
- A liberal arts education aims to produce informed, critically thinking citizens rather than just technically trained workers.
- Humanities uniquely contribute to broad civic reasoning that supports open society and democracy.
Science's Limited Pragmatic Reach
- Many celebrated scientific achievements rest on selective, sometimes practically useless basic research funded for intrinsic interest.
- Philosophy and humanities have produced foundational social structures like modern democracy comparable in importance to scientific gains.
Philosophy's Comparative Advantage
- Not all humanities equally teach critical thinking; philosophy clearly cultivates analytical habits like defining terms and checking counterarguments.
- Other humanities (e.g., literature) may offer different, less direct thinking skills.