2020 marks the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.  To commemorate this milestone, United Nations Academic Impact has asked academics, educators and leading figures in the fields of science, technology and innovation to share their views on the multilateral experiment born of war to foster peace, what they see as the role of the organization in the 21st Century and beyond, and what the world might look like in 25 years when the UN celebrates its 100th anniversary. UNAI will be running this series throughout the year and invite you to engage in the global conversation using #UN75 and #ShapingTheFuture.

This article was contributed by David W. Atkinson, President Emeritus and Professor of English at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The issue of purpose looms large for all universities as they grapple with how they prepare students in a world consumed by change and overcome by almost insurmountable obstacles. Some would say the prognosis is a bleak one. Over twenty years ago Bill Readings (1996) lamented that the modern university “no longer participates in the historical project for humanities,” as he asked whether we have reached the “twilight of the University’s critical and social function.”[1] A few years ago, Briggle and Frodeman (2011) provided reason for this eclipse of the humanities when they referenced “the powerful cultural trends”  that include “ a utilitarian habit of mind where only what is countable actually counts, and a widespread assumption that ‘values’ are mere preferences to be tabulated rather than critically assessed and debated.”[2]  Simply put, the humanities seem an anachronism in a world where values and critical reflection are suspect and where they have been replaced by what is measurable and useful.

We have long looked to the humanities--to literature, philosophy, and history--to provide a moral and social compass for the world.  This is even more the case in a world consumed by innovation, discovery, and change, and one self-absorbed by its sense of limitless capacity. But it seems the humanities have vacated the field. They have turned inward, seem to pay little attention to real world problems, and are comfortable only talking with one another. Granted the humanities are not easy, but this is no reason to rush off to the university’s periphery.  Yes, the humanities are never clear cut; and they never provide the absolutely correct answer.  What they provide is the introspection and self-criticism that force us to examine the very difficult questions of what it means to be a global citizen.

At the same time, we continue to live with the juggernaut of the Humboldian university as an engine of economic growth, a creator of knowledge, and one committed to research and innovation. This is not a bad thing, and there is no going back to Newman’s university[3] where the liberal arts reigned supreme. The twentieth century moved us from an industrial age to one based on information, and today we are welcoming an age based on artificial intelligence.   There is no denying that universities must be at the forefront of change and drivers of scientific and technological change.

As universities look for a role in a world where the very word “truth” seems up for debate, there has never been a more important time for the humanities, confronting as they do the inevitable human issues which result in a world where science and technology are often viewed as providing the solutions to all our problems.   The humanities remain the single place in the ebb and flow of the modern university where there is an antidote to incidental change.   Language, which has for centuries been linear, is being replaced by the intuitive process of imaging and the creation of new forms of communication. We are losing, some would say, our sense of the past, of how we got here.  If the record is to be purged by the delete button, we will live in a world defined by the present, unaware of past mistakes and accomplishments. 

So how, then, does one find a place where these two halves of the university come together? Simon Wortham in his book, Rethinking the University, Leverage and Deconstruction (1999) references Derridas’ metaphor of “walking on two feet” as presenting the “potentially paralyzing problem”[4] of today’s universities.  The point is that walking is an awkward exercise in which balance is only achieved by pushing off on one foot or the other.  According to Wortham, the image does not “create the impression of confident progress, concerted and coordinated movement forwards through concord or compromise.”[5]  The other is that it “presents a comic picture of awkwardly self-conscious perambulation.”[6] As odd an image as this is, it provides an interesting perspective by which we might assess the relationship between the humanities and the rest of the university, each constituting as it does one foot.

The point is that the university with all of its diversity is an awkward instrument.  But it never stands still as each foot leverages off the other in a dialogue that drives the university forward.  Without one or other of its parts, the university would become paralyzed and would never really address the problems and issues of today’s world.  We might appear from time to time comic in how we limp along, but limp along we do, and this would not be possible without the presence of the humanities as a necessary foot in Derridas’ university. While the humanities might from time to time seem the weak foot, they remain the foundation of the university, and possess a continuing importance that cannot be denied.

Ultimately this brings us back to our students, the global citizens of the future.  We sometimes forget that our most important “product” is our students.  It is they who will shape the world, and who will need to solve the problems inherited from previous generations. While they will need skills and knowledge we cannot even begin to conceive, they will need to be rooted in those timeless values of what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and what is not, and what is of true value. We might remember, as well, that young people today—in many cases our students—are at the vanguard of change.  In a world of unabashed celebration of human potential, the humanities demand that we stop and reflect about the world we have created and provide our students with what they will need as future global citizens.

To join the conversation on UN75 and learn more about the United Nations’ Charter and history, check out these resources:

Notes

  • Bill Readings, The University in Ruins (Cambridge:  Harvard University Press, 1996, p. 11-14.
  • Adam Briggle, Robert Frodeman, “A New Philosophy for the 21st Century,” Chronicle of Higher Education, Vol. 58, No. 17, B10.
  • John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University, 1854.
  • Simon Wortham, Rethinking the University:  Leverage and deconstruction (Manchester:  Mancester University Press, 1999), pp. 11.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.