Abstract

The Nineteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, held at the Complutense University of Madrid, explored within its special focus critical thinking, soft skills, and technology as key elements in XXI century education. Indeed, today’s education is marked by the fundamental role that key competencies and transversal ‘soft skills’ play in the promotion of conscientious and reflective citizenship able to cope with contemporary global crises. The European Commission, United Nations, and other international organizations underscore the urgency of achieving sustainable development goals and entrepreneurship practices in the higher education sector. In this context of complex and highly digitalized societies, humanistic knowledge, which serves the critical role of developing and preserving human thought and culture, is an essential tool to place technology in an authentically human context that ensures the interests of our societies and the future of humanity. Likewise, the impact of the 4.0 revolution on the generation of critical thinking and the role of transversal skills treated from the perspective of humanistic thought and its translation to the educational sphere are crucial areas of interdisciplinary inquiry. In a rapidly changing world, characteristics such as flexibility, adaptation, collaboration, teamwork, and many other soft skills are essential to prepare individuals for the challenges they will have to face during their lives. Additionally, critical thinking has become even more important in a time in which the onslaught of information requires people to exercise it on a constant basis to fight against realities like fake news, political manipulation, and all kind of hoaxes.