The book aims to introduce a research concept called "Numanities",
as one possible attempt to overcome the current scientific, social
and institutional crisis of the humanities. Such crisis involves
their impact on, and role within, society; their popularity among
students and scholars; and their identity as producers and
promoters of knowledge. The modern western world and its economic
policies have been identified as the strongest cause of such a
crisis. Creating the conditions for, but in fact encouraging it.
However, a self-critical assessment of the situation is called for.
Our primary fault as humanists was that of stubbornly thinking that
the world's changes could never really affect us, as - we felt -
our identity was sacred. In the light of these approaches, the main
strengths of humanities have been identified in the ability to:
promote critical thinking and analytical reasoning; provide
knowledge and understanding of democracy and social justice;
develop leadership, cultural and ethical values. The main problems
of humanities are the lack economic relevance; the
socio-institutional perception of them as "impractical" and
unemployable; the fact that they do not match with technological
development. Finally, the resulting crisis consists mainly in the
absence (or radical reduction) of funding from institutions; a
decrease in student numbers a decrease in interest; a loss of
centrality in society. A Numanities (New Humanities) project should
consider all these aspects, with self-critical assessment on the
first line. The goal is to unify the various fields, approaches and
also potentials of the humanities in the context, dynamics and
problems of current societies, and in an attempt to overcome the
above-described crisis. Numanities are introduced not as a
theoretical paradigm, but in terms of an "umbrella-concept" that
has no specific scientific content in it: that particularly means
that the many existing new fields and research trends that are
addressing the same problems (post-humanism, transhumanism,
transformational humanities, etc.) are not competitors of
Numanities, but rather possible ways to them. Therefore, more than
a theoretical program, Numanities intend to pursue a mission, and
that is summarized in a seven-point manifesto. In the light of
these premises and reflections, the book then proceeds to identify
the areas of inquiry that Numanities, in their functions and
comprehensive approach, seek to cover. The following list should
also be understood as a statement of purposes for this entire book
series. These, in other words, will be the topics/areas we intend
to represent. Once elaborated on the foundations of Numanities, the
book features a second part that presents two case studies based on
two relatively recent (and now updated) investigations that the
author has performed in the fields of musical and animal studies
respectively. The two cases (and relative areas of inquiry) were
selected because they were considered particularly relevant within
the discussion of Numanities, and in two different ways. In the
first case-study the author discussed the most typical result (or
perhaps cause?) of the technophobic attitude that was addressed in
the first part of the book: the issue of "authenticity", as
applied, in the author's particular study, to popular music. In the
second case-study, he analyzes two different forms of comparative
analysis between human and non-human cognition: like in the former
case, this study, too, is aimed at a critical commentary on (what
the author considers) redundant biases in current humanistic
research - anthropocentrism and speciesism.
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