Wolfgang Welsch
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Appeared in: "Krise der Moderne" und Renaissance der Geisteswissenschaften, ed. Gottfried Magerl et al. (Vienna/Cologne/Weimar: Böhler 1997), 317-338. The structural change in the humanities concerns their inner form, their position in relation to other sciences, as well as new kinds of responsibilities in a changed world. The internal definition of the humanities takes place not according to a unitary criterion - such as the mind*; instead their coherence is characterized by family resemblances. Externally the sharp separation from the natural sciences has become obsolete, and the borders with social and cultural sciences are in any case fluid. The institutional design of the humanities should become decidedly transdisciplinary - failing this there would remain only antiquatedness and narrow-mindedness. The humanities would be well advised to face up to the manifold forms of modern plurality, which, epistemologically, means developing an informed relativism. And they should free themselves from the old fiction of homogeneous cultures and address the transculturality of today and the future. [* N.B. The idea that 'Geist' - i.e. mind or spirit - might constitute such a unitary criterion is suggested by the German term 'Geisteswissenschaften' for 'humanities'; this is particularly suggestive of a categorical distinction from the sciences, that is, the 'Naturwissenschaften', A.I.] |