The Role and Mission of the Humanities

Professor Arne Jarrick

Secretary General for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Swedish Research Council

Wednesday, 4th November 2009, 11:00am – 12:30pm.

IIIS Conference Room, 6th Floor, Arts Building, TCD.

This talk has two pillars: the scientific mission in general and the humanist (and social science) mission in particular. I will speak in favour of free basic research, although, of course not all research should be free. It is in the interest of citizens that Academia provides them with knowledge that is as unbiased and sustainable as possible, thereby laying a solid ground  for all kinds of decision making, from the micro level to the macro level, and hopefully also preparing us for future, yet unknown societal challenges. So, in their own self interest, citizens need to allow a certain number of researchers set their own agenda. The human sciences have a particular role to play, and this is to produce a certain kind of knowledge, where the self-reflecting, decision making, human individual, and the socially interacting human individuals are at the centre of our scientific efforts. If we do not do this, nobody else will.

Normally, the human individual  is our base unit of analysis (only rarely do we go below the individual, for example to the molecules; and only rarely do we go beyond the population aggregate to, for instance, the planets). This may seem self-evident, but this position should be contrasted to other positions as to what is the particular role of the  human sciences, all from the position that it should be our special task to play the leading role as critics of our civilization.

Funding Bodies