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Entry: Higher education's crisis of confidence Link: http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/article/higher_educations_crisis_of_confidence#24749 Post contents: Basil Bunting said in a 1970 lecture: Poetry is no use whatever. The whole notion of usefulness is irrelevant to what are called the fine arts, as it is to many other things, perhaps to most of the things that really matter. We who call ourselves “The West,” now that we’ve stopped calling ourselves Christians, are so imbued with the zeal for usefulness that was left us by Jeremy Benthem that we find it difficult to escape from utilitarianism into a real world. I think replacing 'humanities' with 'poetry' and the quote still rings true. The study of the humanities either appeals to people or it doesn't. As Bunting says, 'usefulness is irrelevant to the fine arts'. To try and form some sort of defense of the humanities is near impossible (tho' that's not to say it shouldn't be attempted...) Sent at: 2008 05 16