Explaining the Decline of the Human Sciences

In pop culture, a person who graduates from a Philosophy or Philology Department is characterized as a useless tool for the current capitalistic utopia. They are seen as another polymath incapable of solving even the simplest problem, an egoistic creature accustomed to spreading boring information to an audience that simply doesn’t care. It would be just a funny caricature, but, considering the role of some of the most powerful entertainment companies in constructing this image, it isn’t.

It’s not even a secret today that most governments linked with these companies have treated the human sciences with suspicion. The reason is quite simple: philosophy, history, philology, and several related disciplines focus on how humans confront their past, how they perceive themselves within society, and ultimately what they must do for a better future. Of course, the human sciences mustn’t be political tools; however, they de facto play a political role — cultivating critical thinking.

But who wants people who think critically, who don’t base their decisions on instinctive impulses, who refuse to buy overpriced goods shaped by the most systematic propaganda, and who challenge the privileges of the upper classes? What would happen if the poor realized how the modern world is constructed? And how would contemporary, irrational despotism influence the masses if the latter had a proper humanistic education?

Setting aside liberal or Marxist deterministic schemes, we can’t be optimistic about the future of the human sciences. Populist leaders are here to stay; they will continue to face every capable challenge to their hegemony with hostility. It’s up to us to fight back with the precious tools we possess: educating, researching, and writing.