This book explores the ways that critics writing in the early nineteenth century developed arguments in favour of the humanities in the face of utilitarian pressures. Its focus reflects the ways that similar pressures today have renewed the question of how to make the case for the public value of the humanities. The good news is that in many ways, this self-reflexive challenge is precisely what the humanities have always done best: highlight the nature and the force of the narratives that have helped to define how we understand our society – its various pasts and its possible futures – and to suggest the larger contexts within which these issues must ultimately be situated.

"In this book, Jon Mee proposes a new literary-cultural history of the Industrial Revolution in Britain from the late-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. Against the stubbornly persistent image of "dark satanic mills," in many ways so comforting to literary Romanticism, Jon Mee provides fresh, revisionary account of the Industrial Revolution as a story of unintended consequences. Reading a wide range of texts-economic, medical, and more conventionally "literary" ones-with a distinctive focus on their circulation through networks and institutions, Mee shows how a project of enlightened liberal reform, articulated in Britain's emerging manufacturing towns, led unexpectedly to coercive forms of machine productivity, a pattern that might be seen repeating in the digital technologies in our own time. Instead of treating the Industrial Revolution as Romanticism's "other," Mee shows how writing, practices, and institutions emanating from the industrial towns developed a new kind of knowledge economy, one where "literary" debates played a key role, especially through local literary and philosophical societies who were important transmission hubs for the circulation of knowledge. Mee provides a new perspective on the development of social relations across the period, challenging the idea that the Industrial Revolution as the result of some kind of prior, ideological intention. The book will interest literary scholars concerned with the relation of Romanticism to Britain's social and economic upheavals; social and economic historians studying the underpinnings of the Industrial Revolution; and cultural historians tracing the relation between social networks and political philosophy"--

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "The Challenges of the Humanities, Past, Present, and Future - Volume 1" that was published in Humanities

The humanities in American higher education is in a state of crisis with declining student enrollment, fewer faculty positions, and diminishing public prestige. Instead of recycling old arguments that have lost their appeal, the humanities must discover and articulate new rationales for their value to students, faculty, administrators, and the public. Why the Humanities Matter Today: In Defense of Liberal Education is an attempt to do so by having philosophers, literature and foreign language professors, historians, and political theorists defend the value and explain the worth of their respective disciplines as well as illuminate the importance of liberal education. By setting forth new arguments about the significance of their disciplines, these scholars show how the humanities can reclaim its place of prominence in American higher education.

Many in higher education fear that the humanities are facing a crisis. But even if the rhetoric about “crisis” is overblown, humanities departments do face increasing pressure from administrators, politicians, parents, and students. In A New Deal for the Humanities, Gordon Hutner and Feisal G. Mohamed bring together twelve prominent scholars who address the history, the present state, and the future direction of the humanities. These scholars keep the focus on public higher education, for it is in our state schools that the liberal arts are taught to the greatest numbers and where their neglect would be most damaging for the nation. The contributors offer spirited and thought-provoking debates on a diverse range of topics. For instance, they deplore the push by administrations to narrow learning into quantifiable outcomes as well as the demands of state governments for more practical, usable training. Indeed, for those who suggest that a college education should be “practical”—that it should lean toward the sciences and engineering, where the high-paying jobs are—this book points out that while a few nations produce as many technicians as the United States does, America is still renowned worldwide for its innovation and creativity, skills taught most effectively in the humanities. Most importantly, the essays in this collection examine ways to make the humanities even more effective, such as offering a broader array of options than the traditional major/minor scheme, options that combine a student’s professional and intellectual interests, like the new medical humanities programs. A democracy can only be as energetic as the minds of its citizens, and the questions fundamental to the humanities are also fundamental to a thoughtful life. A New Deal for the Humanities takes an intrepid step in making the humanities—and our citizens—even stronger in the future.

Introduces key concepts and debates in health humanities and the health professions. Keywords for Health Humanities provides a rich, interdisciplinary vocabulary for the burgeoning field of health humanities and, more broadly, for the study of medicine and health. Sixty-five entries by leading international scholars examine current practices, ideas, histories, and debates around health and illness, revealing the social, cultural, and political factors that structure health conditions and shape health outcomes. Presenting possibilities for health justice and social change, this volume exposes readers—from curious beginners to cultural analysts, from medical students to health care practitioners of all fields—to lively debates about the complexities of health and illness and their ethical and political implications. A study of the vocabulary that comprises and shapes a broad understanding of health and the practices of healthcare, Keywords for Health Humanities guides readers toward ways to communicate accurately and effectively while engaging in creative analytical thinking about health and healthcare in an increasingly complex world—one in which seemingly straightforward beliefs and decisions about individual and communal health represent increasingly contested terrain.

This Book Examines And Evaluates The Critical Position Of R.S. Crane, The Leader Of The Chicago School Of Formalistic Criticism. Crane And His Colleagues In The University Of Chicago Set A New Trend In Literary Criticism In The Very Heyday Of The New Criticism. His Theory Of Criticism, Popularly Known As Critical Pluralism, Is An Answer To The Inevitable Limitations Of Monistic Criticism Including The New Criticism. Crane Shows Us The Way Toward A Multiple Response To A Literary Text, And Thereby Points Out The Significance Or Utility Of The Diverse Critical Theories. In The Field Of Practical Criticism Also Crane Has Left A Genuine Mark By Emphasizing The Need Of A Formal-Structural Approach To The Literary Texts. The Book Will Be Of Immense Help To The Scholars And Literary Critics.

Demonstrating that the supposed drawbacks of the humanities are in fact their source of practical value, Jay explores current debates about the role of the humanities in higher education, puts them in historical context, and offers humanists and their supporters concrete ways to explain the practical value of a contemporary humanities education.

This edited collection aims to provoke discussion around the most important question for contemporary higher education – what kind of education (in terms of purpose, pedagogy and policy) is needed to restore the health and wellbeing of the planet and ourselves now and for generations to come? The book contains contributions from colleagues at a single UK University, internationally recognised for its approach to sustainability education. Introducing a conceptual framework called the ‘Paradox Model’, the book explores the tensions that underpin the challenge of developing sustainability in higher education in the 21st century. It asks probing questions about the purpose of higher education in the 21st century given growing concerns in relation to planetary safety and justice and calls for a rethinking of educational purpose. It draws upon the theory and practice of education and explores how these can develop an understanding of sustainability pedagogies in practice. Finally, it delivers thought-provoking discussion on what constitutes a ‘good’ higher education that meets the needs of a world in crisis. Drawing on a planetary health lens, the book concludes with a ‘manifesto’ that brings together the key insights from the contributing authors. This will be an engaging volume for academics and educators from a wide range of disciplines in higher educational settings interested in translating sustainability theory into educational practice.