Searching for the “Superhumanities”

Searching for the “Superhumanities”

This episode is devoted to the challenging experiences of young people who arrive at a university or college full of enthusiasm for existential and profound questions. Not infrequently, they feel that the attitudes and methods they encounter in the classroom and among their professors are unable to penetrate deeply enough into the questions for which they burn and which they wish to explore. This can lead to disappointments and awaken the temptation to turn away from their passion for knowledge, growth and understanding. Yet there are ideas, orientations and contemporary endeavours to expand the understanding of science so as to enable the exploration of those deeper questions and riddles that are matters not only of the intellect but also of the heart. As examples, Jeffrey Kripal’s proposal to found a new school of the “Superhumanities” and the ideas of Hubert Dreyfus and Charles Taylor concerning a pluralistic, robust realism are presented.

References

• Hubert Dreyfus and Charles Taylor (2015) Retrieving Realism. (Harvard University Press).

• William James (2008) Pluralistic Universe: Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the Present Situation in Philosophy. (Cambridge Scholars Publisher).

• Jeffrey Kripal (2022) The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities. (University of Chicago Press).