Theses about the need for humanities – new humanities

We often hear voices claiming that humanities are unnecessary, and particularly – that they’re impractical; humanists are lost on the job market; humanities are not real sciences and constantly in crisis. While we could agree with the latter statements (humanities don’t need to conform to scientists’ definition of sciences, they can belong to the area of art or philosophy; and crisis is also a creative state…), the first two are both untrue and damaging. We will examine what they mean and where they come from. We will ask the fundamental question: who is afraid of humanities and why? By considering its specific economy (different from neoliberal economy), we will discover what it can offer us in the time of the declining Anthropocene. How it can allow us to understand today and shape tomorrow.