The Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities will host “Exceptional Measures: The Human Sciences in STEM Worlds” Thursday, Jan. 28, from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Tinkham Veale University Center, ballroom A.
In this lecture, Jerome McGann, the John Stewart Bryan Professor at the University of Virginia, will discuss the idea that humanist studies focus primarily on phenomena that is singular, idiosyncratic and—in a word—personal. They can appear to lack the procedural rigor associated with STEM disciplines. The rigor of humanist studies is not STEM-deficient, but STEM-different.
The difference is most clearly seen if viewed from a philological rather than a philosophical perspective of the humanities. During his lecture, McGann will present some salient American examples. He will explain how the truth of the humanities is not an idea, but rather a practice, and not a theory, but a method. The state of social and cultural life today underscores the urgent, ongoing and very practical need for a rigorous humanist ethics.
This lecture, held in memory of Walter A. Strauss (1923-2008), who was the Elizabeth and William T. Treuhaft Professor of Humanities, is supported by funds provided by the Paul Wurzberger Endowment.
Registration is available online.
