Richard Howells and the Campaign for the Humanities

Richard Howells, our Professor of Cultural Sociology, is featured in the “Spotlight on…” section of publisher Palgrave Macmillan’ s “Campaign for the Humanities” website.

Professor Howells was invited to write an opinion piece on the value of the humanities, which he contributed under the heading: “Know, then, thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man.”

“There was a time when one did not have to make a case for the humanities”, laments Howells, who proceeds to mourn the concept of “impact” as an apparent justification of the value of the humanities today.

He refers more optimistically, though, to the CMCI event: “Beyond Value for Money” in which Sir John Tusa told the audience that the arts were “a public good” while the impact they had was “a private matter for the recipient”.  You can read Richard Howells’ opinion piece here: https://www.palgrave.com/gb/details/15805226

Readers wondering about our choice of image may recognise it as a portrait of Alexander Pope, who in his “Essay on Man” of 1734 declared “Know, then, thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man.”