In his book Proust Was a Neuroscientist (2008), science writer Jonah Lehrer argues we need what he calls a “fourth culture” of knowledge that transcends our two dominant cultures: the humanities and the sciences. The isolation of these different ways of the exploring the world risks stagnation and reductionism in both areas; interdisciplinary thinking, on the other hand, yields creativity and a proper intellectual humility.
In a similar vein, John Horgan, a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, explains in a recent blog post the value of the humanities for his engineering students. Both writers reinforce the same basic idea: these disparate disciplines benefit from regular interaction. In important ways, they need each other. And, we might add by extension, the best education will prepare students to knowledgeably bring these ways of thinking together.
You can read John Horgan’s blog post at the Scientific American website, and you can read a significant quote from Lehrer’s book at the interdisciplinary blog Brain Pickings.
Discussion Questions:
- According to Lehrer, why should the humanities seriously engage the sciences? Why do you think he believes “every humanist should read Nature“?
- According to both authors, why do the sciences need the humanities?
- Even though Horgan values the humanities, he nevertheless implies it is impractical knowledge. At the end of the blog post, he quotes a response from one of his colleagues, a philosopher, who argues that calling the humanities impractical demonstrates “a misunderstanding as to what is practical in a human life. Unless you can show good reason to believe Socrates mistaken in thinking that self-knowledge is only reliable foundation for a good life.” What is Horgan’s colleague saying? What do you think about the practicality of the humanities?
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