About The Lecture

The humanities: past, present - and future?

‘The humanities are in crisis!’ It’s a familiar cry: sometimes a cry of alarm, sometimes a cry of despair, always a cry of pain. But do we know what we mean by ‘the humanities’? And why do they always seem to be in a state of crisis?

In this lecture, Stefan Collini takes a long historical view, tracing the evolution of the relevant categories from the nineteenth century onwards.  For a long time, ‘the Arts’ and ‘the Sciences’ appeared to co-exist quite comfortably in British universities, but as universities expanded and new disciplines established themselves this rough division became less and less practicable.  The rise of the social sciences, in particular, could leave traditional subjects such as History, Philosophy, or Literature looking vulnerable and embattled.  Larger social and economic changes cast further doubt on the ‘usefulness’ of such subjects and on the employability of their graduates.  As a result, the public discourse about ‘the humanities’ always seems to have a defensive and self-justifying tone to it, always fending off imagined attacks while at the same time exaggerating the life-transforming value of such study.

But is this inevitable?  Professor Collini will point to ways in which the humanities might be understood in terms that are simultaneously less defensive and less grandiose.  The need to extend and deepen human understanding about the matters which humanities disciplines study will not go away, but what will be their place in the university of the future?

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Stefan Collini is Professor Emeritus of Intellectual History and English Literature at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of the British Academy.  He is the author of, among other books, Public Moralists (1991), Matthew Arnold: a Critical Portrait (1994), English Pasts: Essays in History and Culture (1999), Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain (2006), Common Reading: Critics, Historians, Publics (2008), Common Writing: Literary Culture and Public Debate (2016), and The Nostalgic Imagination: History in English Criticism (2019). His latest book is Literature and Learning: A History of English Studies in Britain (2025).  

He is also a frequent contributor to The London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, The Nation, and other publications.  In addition, he has contributed to international debates about higher education, principally through his 2012 book What Are Universities For? and its sequel Speaking of Universities (2017).  

Location

Lecture Theatre 17,

Management School

Lancaster University
Bailrigg, Lancaster, Lancashire LA1 4YW

Contact Event Organiser