Toward Deeper Understanding
Towards an Existential History: Restoring Mystery and Depth
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Brandon Tucker
In its present state, the field of historical study is severely limited. Through a misguided attempt at scientific objectivity, we have excluded mystery and depth from our understanding of the past. This has left our history both superficial and irrelevant. Indeed, it has caused us to obscure the most fundamental nature of historical reality, which (like all of reality) is ultimately inexplicable by extrinsic, objective analysis. If we wish to approach the past in a way truly fitting for our subject matter, we will need to make the move towards an “existential history.” Such a history would give proper place to the crucial qualities of mystery and depth. It would find its fulfillment in relation to questions of ultimate significance, and thus, it would intrinsically be a matter of supreme interest and universal relevance. This new approach demands that history become an activity of the whole self, where the fullness of the past is illuminated through the historian’s work of “creative transfiguration.” In this way, the historian’s subjectivity and personhood would be welcomed rather than scorned. Lacking such an existential approach, the potential of our field will remain unrealized and we will be forever blind to the true depth, meaning, and significance inherent to the past. For our critical task of justifying historical study (and really, of justifying all the humanities), we must gain a renewed appreciation for “the existential.” In that spirit, this paper hopes to offer a unique and creative suggestion for the "existential" future of history.
Twin Berries on One Stem: Science and the Humanities in the Training of Physicians
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lauren Barron, Eric Cassell
It is commonly assumed that the science of medicine should lead to an understanding of sick persons. Not so. Medical science is reductionist—it bypasses human beings as persons to get at their parts. Over time, medical science has focused on smaller and smaller human parts and processes. Medical scientists investigating the human genome now alarmingly call this "personalized" medicine. Formal medical education conveys very little about persons. Persons are innately historical and have an innate aesthetic sense. Persons use language and tell stories. Persons always pursue meaning. Not surprisingly, these are the domains of the humanities. Thus, the reason the study of the humanities is the road to knowledge about persons is that persons see the world the same way as the humanities. Dr. William Osler famously described science and the humanities as "twin berries on one stem" going on to say that "grievous damage has been done to both in regarding [them]... in any other light than complemental." For physicians, the proper route to knowledge of humans is through the humanities, not science. The Medical Humanities Program at Baylor University teaches philosophy (ethics, logic and thinking), literature (including poetry), history, art, and other fields within the humanities to prehealth students. This paper explores the indispensable role of the humanities as a foundation for those working in and around healthcare--for students and scholars, for patients and practitioners, and for the culture at large.
Truth, Lies, and Fake News: Jean Baudrillard and the Media in a Post-Truth Era
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session John Stone-Mediatore
This paper draws on Jean Baudrillard's theory of simulation in order to better understand the power of falsehood and disinformation in the electronic media today. I argue that Baudrillard's work on the media (including his theories of simulation, hyperreality and "the online") provides a powerful means of understanding how the ubiquity of real-time technologies, including the 24-hour news media, has impacted human consciousness, making it increasingly difficult for humans to differentiate truth from lies, facts from fiction, and political rhetoric from reality. Consequences of this eclipse of the real, I argue, include the ascendance of “fake news” and the decline of critical thinking and political judgment, developments that pose a serious danger to democracy.
