• Staying Alive: A Survival Manual for the Liberal Arts

    Author(s):
    L.O. Aranye Fradenburg
    Editor(s):
    Eileen Joy (see profile)
    Date:
    2013
    Group(s):
    Medieval Studies
    Subject(s):
    Education--Philosophy, Intersubjectivity, Neurosciences--Philosophy, Psychoanalysis
    Item Type:
    Book
    Tag(s):
    Educational philosophy, Medieval studies, Philosophy of neuroscience
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M60V89H1Q
    Abstract:
    Staying Alive: A Survival Manual for the Liberal Arts fiercely defends the liberal arts in and from an age of neoliberal capital and techno-corporatization run amok, arguing that the public university’s purpose is not vocational training, but rather the cultivation of “artfulness,” including the art of making knowledge. Humanist pedagogy and research use play and intersubjective exchange to foster forms of artfulness critical to the future of our species. From perception to reality-testing to concept-formation and logic, the arts and humanities teach us to see, hear and respond more keenly, and to imagine, or “model,” new futures and possibilities. Bringing together psychoanalysis, neuroscience, animal behavioral research, biology & evolutionary theory, and premodern literarature (from Virgil to Chaucer to Shakespeare), Fradenburg offers a bracing polemic against the technocrats of higher education and a vibrant new vision for the humanities as both living art and new life science. Contrary to recent polemics that simply urge the humanities to become more scientistic or technology-focused, to demonstrate their utility or even trophy their uselessness, Staying Alive does something remarkably different: it argues for the humanism of a new scientific paradigm based on complexity theory and holistic and ecological approaches to knowledge-making. It urges us to take the further step of realizing not only that we can promote and enhance neuroplastic connectivity and social-emotional cognition, but also that the humanities have always already been doing so. “Nature always exceeds itself in its expressivity” — which is to say that living is itself an art, and artfulness is necessary for living: for adaptation and innovation, for forging rich and varied relationships with other minds, bodies and things, and thus, for thriving — whether in the boardroom or the art gallery, the biology lab or the recording studio, the alley or the playground, the book or the dream.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Book     Show details
    Publisher:
    punctum books
    Pub. Date:
    2013
    Version:
    1.0
    ISBN:
    978-0-6159065-0-8
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
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