Falling inward, humanities in the age of technology, Jason Baxter
Type
Label
Falling inward, humanities in the age of technology, Jason Baxter
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references
Index
no index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
Falling inward
Oclc number
1047728354
Responsibility statement
Jason Baxter
Sub title
humanities in the age of technology
Summary
"What is the good of studying the humanities? This frequently asked question is usually answered with some variation on the theme of self-improvement. Study the humanities, the formulation goes, and become a more creative individual, with a more well-rounded résumé and a more empathetic outlook. At root, however, such an answer--factual as it may be--is as useless as it is utilitarian. In Falling inward: humanities in the age of technology, Jason Baxter addresses the pressing question of why we should study of humanities with an answer that is philosophically robust and rich with examples of literature and science. Bringing the films of Christopher Nolan and Terrence Malick into conversation with the writings of Wendell Berry and Gerald Manley Hopkins, Eliot and Plato, Tolkien and Boethius (to name but a few), Baxter weaves an intricate and innovative argument for why we should not only study the humanities, but love the truths that such study brings."--Page [4] of cover
Table Of Contents
Introduction: Deep knowledge in a flat world -- Chapter I. Eucatastrophe in Ithaka: reading the Odyssey with Plato, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien -- Chapter II. Why read old books: recovering the buried past -- Chapter III. Globalism, technology and...poetry?: can the humanities contribute anything in the modern world? -- Chapter IV. Falling upward: gothic cathedral as architecture of contemplation -- Chapter V. Nostalgia for the future: antiquity and eternity in Oxford authors -- Chapter VI. How to look at the world like a painter: the purpose of art history -- Chapter VII. Chatter and intellectual fasting: Dante on the contemplative life