Why should humanities education persist in an AI age? Self-development, to start Through self-development, or ‘Bildung’ in German thought, salon culture sought to resist absolutism and foster democratic discourse. This shaped the modern Western university.

“Students … experience thinking as a process which takes time and demands the exploration of different points of view — similar to democratic decision-making.”

Johannes Steizinger (McMaster Philosophy) on the vital democratic functions of a humanities education.

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Wandering over from Threads. I'm Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning) and Associate Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Sciences at McMaster University. I work to make science accessible, building bridges within the academy and into diverse communities ... but mostly here to doom scroll.