In a recent article in the New York Review of Books, the latinist Mary Beard asks the question of whether the classics have a future. Her answer, a qualified "yes," depends on her understanding classics not simply as a monological communiqué from the past but as a dialogue in which we try to understand the present, as well. Beard writes that "the study of the classics is the study of what happens in the gap between antiquity and ourselves." Is this simply too hopeful given the hard realities faced even by top departments?
Perhaps a similar point can be made about philosophy. Certainly a narrative of decline is not limited to classics, especially given the (relatively) recent bad news from philosophy departments in the UK such as Middlesex and Northampton. Does the erosion of professional philosophy (and continental-heavy departments in particular) simply mean that we are connecting with the tradition in a new way? Or is philosophy always ignored or threatened? Are the philosophers an endangered species?
No comments:
Post a Comment