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What makes the arts and the humanities of any importance?

The Abyss January 30, 2020 at 22:37 1125 views 1 comments
As someone who supports both fields, I am interested to ask this of the philosophical community. What is it, if you support the motion, that makes them of such great value?

Comments (1)

Pfhorrest January 30, 2020 at 23:42 #377324
I think "the arts and humanities" is a poorly constructed category of just "all the stuff that isn't STEM".

I prefer to break down the fields like this:

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On which account "the arts" are obviously their own thing, and "the humanities" are they're usually reckoned are spread across something like three and a quarter other categories: language and philosophy are each their own things on part with the arts, mathematics, or the physical sciences, plus there's a whole underdeveloped field of what I'd call "ethical sciences" with seeds in economics and political science, and then psychology and sociology I'd reckon as properly part of the physical sciences stack, but are usually reckoned as "humanities".