The humanist moment

In “The Humanist Moment,” Chris Higgins sets out to recover a tenable, living humanism, rejecting both the version vilified by the anti-humanists and the one sentimentalized by the reactionary nostalgists. Rescuing humanism from such polemics is only the first step, as we find at least nine rival, contemporary definitions of humanism. Which movement or theory is the real humanism? Higgins contends that we can reconstruct a critical, dialectical humanism from the very tensions in these conceptions. On this view, humanism is neither a theory nor a movement, but a moment, a specific intervention evincing characteristic sensibilities, enabling us to navigate through one of a number of recurring dead spots in the life of culture. Higgins outlines four ongoing human dialectics whose vibrant center the humanist helps us regain: genuine hope/acceptance in the face of both fantasy and cynicism; combined awareness of our connectedness and distinctiveness rejecting both dogmatic universalizing and particularizing discourses; and humane learning as distant from scholasticism as it is from anti-intellectualism. An entire section is devoted to the fourth dialectic, showing how humanism has appeared as a corrective both to historicism and to presentism, helping us reconnect with the untimely, living voice of tradition.     

Nothing Human

In this essay C. C. Wharram argues that Terence's concept of translation as a form of “contamination” anticipates recent developments in philosophy, ecology, and translation studies. Placing these divergent fields of inquiry into dialogue enables us read Terence's well‐known statement “I am a human being — I deem nothing human alien to me” as a recognition of the significance of the “nothing human” for contemporary humanism. By recasting Terence's human/foreign pairing through Freud's concept of the uncanny, Wharram draws a parallel between a “nothing human” that is radically interior to the human subject and an exterior agency of “nothing human” described by actor‐network theory and object‐oriented ontology. Only through an “alien phenomenology” (a concept borrowed from Ian Bogost) dependent on metaphors and translations that are necessarily approximate (or “contaminated”) can we begin to approach this “nothing human.”     

Educational Research: The Importance of the Humanities

It is one sign of the lack of understanding of the value of the humanities, to educational research and inquiry as well as to our world more widely, that such justifications of them as are offered frequently take a crudely instrumental form. The humanities (which in this essay are not distinguished from the arts) are welcomed insofar as they are beneficial to the economy, for example, or play a therapeutic role in people's physical or mental well‐being. In higher education in the UK, they are marginalized for similar reasons, on the grounds that they neither appeal to the lucrative overseas student market nor constitute a significant source of grant income from research councils, industry, or other funding sources. While their place in educational research is still defended in many quarters, the increasing demand that research should have “impact” can leave the humanities appearing ineffectual. Furthermore, the very idea of research is widely taken to mandate empiricist and “scientific” approaches. Although there are no easy solutions to this state of things, Richard Smith argues in this essay that those of us who value the humanities in and for themselves might adopt two approaches in particular: to pursue vigilant criticism of the rampant instrumentalism and scientism of our time, and to emphasize the importance of that distinctive feature of humane inquiry: interpretation.     

探寻康德尔比较教育思想的根基与灵魂--康德尔自由教育思想的再发现

自由教育是美国著名教育思想家康德尔教育思想的重要组成部分。康德尔身处的动荡时代激发了其民主主义的社会理想,早期的生活经历和教育背景则奠定了其历史人文主义的思想底色。康德尔的自由教育思想试图在历史人文主义（传统）与进步主义（现代）之间求得平衡。这种兼容并蓄的特点使康德尔可被称为“现代的传统主义者”。康德尔之所以在美国教育史上未获得足够的关注,是因为他的自由教育思想迥异于当时占主导地位的教育“进步化”和“科学化”潮流。康德尔的自由教育思想不仅具有重要的历史价值,同时对于学界系统地理解其比较教育思想也有一定的启发意义。     

“There Is No Substitute for a Sense of Reality”: Humanizing the Humanities

Do the humanities have a future? In the face of an increased emphasis on the so‐called practical applicability of education, some educators worry that the presence of humanistic study in schools and universities is gravely threatened. In the short‐term, scholars have rallied to defend the humanities by demonstrating how they do, in fact, advance our practical interests. Martha Nussbaum, for example, argues that the humanities uniquely support democratic citizenship by cultivating critical thinking and narrative imagination — two skills needed for the development of sympathetic and autonomous judgment. Defending the humanities in this manner, however, puts practitioners of the humanities in an impossible position. In this essay, Megan Laverty explains that while arguments such as Nussbaum's, which defend the instrumental value of the humanities, are persuasive and strategic, their use is double‐edged. They belie the fact that the humanities are valuable for their own sake. Such arguments imply that the humanities derive their value from their ability to provide extrinsic benefits such as critical thinking and narrative imagination. Moreover, they can prevent individuals from discovering that the value of the humanities is revealed over time and from the inside out. In fact, having to answer the question of why the humanities matter puts us in an impossible position precisely because humanistic study is what Laverty describes, drawing upon the work of Talbot Brewer and R. F. Holland, as a form of dialectical activity: one in which the activity's constitutive ideals and internal goods are progressively clarified by means of the individual's ongoing engagement in the activity itself. Having redescribed the humanities as intrinsically valuable, Laverty goes on to distinguish humanistic study from other forms of dialectical activity, arguing that the humanities call upon students to imagine alternative linguistic and conceptual possibilities — thereby connecting us with others. It is in the pursuit of this question about the nature of our humanity — not its answer, but the question itself — that the meaning of humanistic study continues, indefinitely, to unfold.     

Archiving the Source: Pasts and Futures of the Humanities

In this essay Robert Davis provides a critical roadmap, which is also a genealogy, for understanding and examining the history of both the humanities and education in them. It relates appraisal of the so‐called “crisis” in contemporary teaching of the humanities to a deeper understanding of crisis as a condition for periodic reassessment and renewal of the humanities that has recurred at a number of key historical conjunctures since the early modern period, most notably at the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 and at the coming of industrialization and mass education more than a century later. Davis focuses on the traditionalist defense of the humanities as a route to the humane while also acknowledging the power of the poststructuralist critique of this agenda and its complicity with the moral failures of Western society and imperialism. He concludes the essay by advocating a position “beyond critique” where the humanities and education in them can attain a new universalism and material relevance.     

Juan Luis Vives (1492-1540) on the Education of Girls. An Investigation into his Medieval and Spanish Sources

Abstract

Due to his treatise on the education of girls and women, the “De institutione foeminae christianae” (1524), the Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives (1492-1540) is repeatedly labelled as “an advocate of woman's education” or “revolutionary feminist”. But, Vives’ treatise must be judged on other grounds than feminist or antifeminist, and must be confronted with patristic, medieval and humanistic ideas to give a clear outline of his personal emphases.

Therefore, Vives’ views are confronted in the first place with those of patristic authors like Jerome and Augustine and medieval moralists like Vincent of Beauvais, Aegidius Romanus, Francesco da Barberino, Christine de Pisan and Konrad Bitschin. Secondly, the circumstances of his treatise are compared with those of Italian pedagogues as Vergerio, Brunt and Piccolomini, and a special link is made with the dedication-process of books of houres from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Conclusion is that Vives’ work was equally influenced by the circumstances of the time of writing and the identity of his addressee, i.e. Catherine of Aragon, “the Spanish Queen in England”, as Vives called her. The impact of Thomas More’s humanist circle on Vives’ treatise is also of great importance.

But scholars have — for several reasons — overlooked the great influence of Vives’ Spanish background, and especially the direct influence of the Catalan Minorite Francesc Eiximenis (ca. 1340- 1409). Not only Vives’ “Institutio” shows many parallels in contenance and style with Eiximenis’ “Llibre de les clones”, there seems to be also an influence of Eiximenis on Vives’ political views in his “De subventione pauperum”. The comparison between Eixmenis and Vives’ views on education of women will preserve tomorrow’s Vives specialists from making rashly attributed claims of originality and will open the eyes for Spanish medieval sources in a so-called “humanist” treatise.     

Beyond the Humanism/Posthumanism Debate: The Educational Implications of Said's Critical,Humane Praxis

The late Edward Said sought to place critique and, indeed, self‐critique at the heart of humanism. While the posthuman critiques surrounding the (im)possibility of humanism in postmodern times tend to focus on human autonomy, rationality, and essentialism, Stephen Chatelier here explores the idea that Said's writing on humanism could help us shift the focus from issues of ontology towards those of practice. Such a move, he argues, prioritizes the ethico‐political aspect of human engagement. Rather than making an attempt to defend Enlightenment or Eurocentric forms of humanism, Chatelier probes two distinct possibilities that arise from Said's democratic humanism. First, he considers to what extent a construction of humanism as practice can enable us to see critical posthumanism as a form of Saidian humanism. Second, he explores how (post)humanist discourse might continue to be of use in precipitating thinking among educators about ethico‐political imperatives of education in an era shaped by complex cultural and political relations and a dominant neoliberal rationality.     

Mind the Gap: Appropriate Evolutionary Perspectives Toward the Integration of the Sciences and Humanities

Although Darwinism has gained a foothold in the social sciences, in the humanities, with a few exceptions, it is still largely rejected—not, as some would claim, because humanists are all radical poststructuralists who deny that material reality exists, but rather because, with notable exceptions, Darwinists who work within the humanities have adopted a trenchant “us against them,” in-group/out-group mentality that has done a good deal more harm than good. In order for evolution to be effectively taught as part of a humanistic approach to literature and art, a more productive, truly “two way” approach is necessary, and must do more than impose the scientific method on the humanities. When this kind of imposition occurs, the humanities are treated only as subject matter, thereby discounting historical and interpretive research that is invaluable to scientists and claims they might make in these areas. This paper claims that for evolution to function as a paradigm with true explanatory power across disciplines, scientifically oriented evolutionists need training in humanistic methodologies just as much as humanistically oriented evolutionists need training in the scientific method. Evolution, in this context, becomes not the paradigm that can explain everything from a scientific point of view but rather the beginnings of a conversation about lower and upper level questions, and how these questions might inform and enrich each other’s research.     

Traveling Chaucer: Comparative Translation and Cosmopolitan Humanism

Through the comparative study of non‐Anglophone translations of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, we can achieve the progressive goals of Emily Apter's “translational transnationalism” and Edward Said's “cosmopolitan humanism.” Both translation and humanism were intrinsic to Chaucer's initial composition of the Tales, and in turn, both shaped Chaucer's later reception, often in ways that did a disservice to his reputation and his verse. In this essay, Candace Barrington argues that comparative translation provides a means whereby new modes of translation, like Apter's, can promote a different version of humanism, like Said's; she demonstrates this process in a brief philological study of Nazmi A??l's Turkish translation of The Squire's Tale. While we can see the infusion of Turkish values and perspectives in the new text, we can also see that the Turkish reveals new insights into Chaucer's subtle and nuanced use of language.     

人文城市建设的基本维度

人类城市形态的变迁逻辑无数次表明,城市的建设是一个世界性命题,要注重其实体的建构要义,更要注重其所蕴含的人文要义。《国家新型城镇化规划（2014—2020年）》适时提出“注重人文城市建设”,成为我国新型城镇化战略的浓墨一笔,“文化传承,彰显特色”则成为人文理念引导下的重要准则之一。为建设好人文城市,我们应从体现人文特色魅力、强化文化服务功能、形成多元开放文化、提升城市文化品位四个维度着力。     

“孔家店”的被废、被打与后果

辛亥革命前后,儒学、汉字、中医,先后不同程度地受到非议与打击。废弃孔家店,是清朝在没有看清世界也不了解自己的情况下,匆忙作出的偏颇决定。这一偏颇、激进、狭隘的重物学、鄙人学的＂革命＂传统,在中国近现代史上作为重要一支一直发展下去,甚至达到了意识形态化的极端地步,导致人文学领域遭受了中华民族有史以来的空前绝后的重大灾难。学分自然学和人文学,在自然学领域改革传统教育,全面向西方学习是应该的;但在人文学领域,既要向西方学习,也要继承自己的历史传统和学问。盲目否定自身的人文学传统,是自断臂膀、自残大脑的低级愚蠢行为,不符合对人文学的确当认识。＂科教兴国＂,只能是狭义上的兴国,不能代替文化上的传承和创新。只有在文化上既传承且创新,才能真正既走得稳又走得远。人是人,人不是物,人文学是人的思维,在人文学领域失去＂人的思维＂这一根本,只能成为无头无脑的＂莽汉＂,洋务运动的失败即为前例。只有人文学这一根本重新确立起来,中华民族＂拨乱反正,步入正轨＂这一时代性的任务,方能算实现和完成。     

人文主义视域下的教育发展

教育活动是一种具有人文意义的活动,人文主义为教育的发展提供了文化积淀。在人文主义视域下审视教育,对人们深入认识教育的人文性质、揭示教育规律具有重要意义。人文主义在教育中表现为:教育目的的人文体现、教育内容的人文选择、教育价值的人文取向。在人文主义的影响下,"人本"教育、"全人"教育、"主体"教育在教育领域得以弘扬。人文主义主张人性、人权、肯定人生价值、追求自由平等,人文主义视域下的教育发展必将走向教育自由、教育民主、教育平等。     

关于技术哲学的两个传统

本文追溯了技术哲学两个传统划分之来源,认为从本质论的角度把技术哲学划分为工程学传统与人文主义传统,虽然根源于科学主义与人文主义的对立,但需要纠正一个误解,即以为时至今日,工程学的技术哲学仍仅仅对应于科学精神,人文主义的技术哲学则独享人文精神.应当强调,当前工程学传统与人文主义传统正在走向融合;对技术哲学应多研究一些问题,少贴一些标签.     

中医药文化核心价值观引领下的人文课程体系建设

中医药文化的核心价值观“仁、和、精、诚”明确了中医药院校的人文课程体系建设设的方向、目标与内容。具体实施中,重点是以“调和致中”指导中医药文化核心价值观与中医药学相融合的课程设置;以“医乃仁术”指导建立兼备仁爱与文化教育意识、能力的教学团队;以“精勤不倦”指导不断创新的教学方法;以“大医精诚”指导建立综合客观的考核评价机制;以“辨证论治”指导形成区域性特色明显的人文教育。     

儒家人文精神探源及其特性

儒家的人文精神肇端于孔子诞生前的唐尧、虞舜、夏禹时形成的丰厚的人文传统,其特性是以道统治世、内圣外王并行不悖,科技、人文与宗教三领域心物平行,历史悠久、文化绵长,是一种实践理性,渗透在世代中国人的不断延续中,具有内在与超越、自然与人文、道德与宗教结合以及"我不入地狱谁入地狱"的极世献身的热忱。     

The posts continue: becoming

This paper describes assumptions of representational logic and phenomenology that organize much of Enlightenment humanism and one of its knowledge projects, conventional humanist qualitative methodology. The author argues that the ontological critiques of “post” theorists, including Foucault, Derrida, Baudrillard, Lyotard, and Deleuze and Guattari, were set aside in favor of epistemological projects following World War II and that, in general, the “posts” had little effect on that methodology. Those critiques are now being put to work and extended in the new empiricism and new materialism to re-imagine being, always an ethical task. Whether humanist qualitative inquiry can survive the ontological turn is a question to consider.     

The Relevance of Hans‐Georg Gadamer's Concept of Tradition to the Philosophy of Education

In this article, Anniina Leiviskä argues that the educational relevance of Hans‐Georg Gadamer's concept of tradition has remained unacknowledged because of the conservatism that has been associated with Gadamer's hermeneutics, particularly his notion of tradition. Therefore, Leiviskä seeks to reveal the reflective, nonconservative nature of Gadamer's concept of tradition in order to illuminate its significance with respect to the philosophy of education. Utilizing Gadamer's reinterpretation of the Aristotelian notion of phronesis, she outlines a concept of situated rationality that rests upon the idea of the historicity of human existence, and she suggests that this concept may be used to define a central aim of education. Leiviskä argues that instead of disengaged objectivity, rationality as phronesis stands for the reflective reappropriation of one's tradition, which is enabled by one's situatedness in history and requires encountering other horizons — including the horizons of the past — through which one may be addressed and challenged.     

The Cultural Argument for Understanding Nature of Science

Understanding Nature of Science (NOS) is a central component of scientific literacy, which is agreed upon internationally, and consequently has been a major educational goal for many years all over the globe. In order to justify the promotion of an adequate understanding of NOS, educators have developed several arguments, among them the cultural argument. But what is behind this argument? In order to answer this question, C. P. Snow’s vision of two cultures was used as a starting point. In his famous Rede Lecture from 1959, he complained about a wide gap between the arts and humanities on the one hand and sciences on the other hand. While the representatives of the humanities refer to themselves as real intellectuals, the scientists felt rather ignored as a culture, despite the fact that their achievements had been so important for Western society. Thus, Snow argued that as these intellectual cultures were completely different from each other, a mutual understanding was impossible. The first European Regional IHPST Conference took up the cultural view on science again. Thus, the topic of the conference “Science as Culture in the European Context” encouraged us to look at the two cultures and to figure out possibilities to bridge the gap between them in chemistry teacher education. For this reason, we put together three studies—one theoretical and two independent research projects (one dealing with creativity in science, the other with scientific laws and theories) which contribute to our main research field (promoting an understanding of NOS)—in order to address the cultural argument for understanding science from an educational point of view. Among the consented tenets of what understanding NOS implies in an educational context, there are aspects which are associated mainly with the humanities, like the tentativeness of knowledge, creativity, and social tradition, whereas others seem to have a domain-specific meaning, like empirical evidence, theories and laws, and the role of technology. Thus, the cultural argument for understanding science invites us not only to consider domain-specific concepts but also to reflect on similarities between science and the humanities by way of examples.     

Humanism,Islamic Education,and Confucian Education

This article explores and compares the salient characteristics and educational influences of humanism in both Islam and Confucianism. It is argued that the humanist tradition in both belief systems upholds the development and transforming ability of human beings. A common aim of education is to nurture God/Way-conscious and virtuous individuals who fulfill their calling on earth by achieving perfection. Rather than advocating textual transmission, didacticism, and rote-memorization, the humanist tradition in both Islam and Confucianism supports a broad-based curriculum and promotes active learning pedagogies.