Humanist Reason

Eric Hayot writes so beautifully, and with such breathless command of a central epistemological dilemma, that the book’s excitement reaches well beyond the confines of German philosophy. Witty, thrilling, and even moving in the depth of its commitment, this short book is about nothing less than rethinking the university. -- William Germano, coauthor of Syllabus: The Remarkable, Unremarkable Document That Changes Everything
In Humanist Reason, Eric Hayot brings a distinctive mix of chutzpah and erudition to bear on what have seemed to be intractable debates about the role of the humanities in public life, the organization of academic disciplines, and the future of higher education. With clarity of purpose, bravery, and admirable pragmatism, he calls not only for new thinking—but also for new action. -- Rebecca L. Walkowitz, author of Born Translated: The Contemporary Novel in an Age of World Literature
The history of the humanities is a catalogue of grand moral claims and ethical exhortations. The humanities shape souls, form democratic citizens, reveal a common humanity. They are said to do whatever they are needed to do for any given group at any given time. With pithy prose, careful argument, and obvious excitement, Hayot casts these mythological accounts aside in order to draw our attention on the practice of humanist reason. By focusing on what humanist scholars do and not what they or their self-appointed spokespeople say they do, he reminds us that whatever consolations and succor the humanities might afford, humanities scholarship is a distinct form of reason that helps us know, understand, and care for this world and the people and objects that constitute it. This book is not another anxious apology or resentful jeremiad about the decline of the humanities. This is a confident and liberating gift that shows us how and why to practice humanist reason now. -- Chad Wellmon, coauthor of Permanent Crisis: The Humanities in a Disenchanted Age
Humanist Reason proves that it is possible to launch a full-blown defense of the humanities that is centered not around discrete humanistic results or skills, but around what they contribute to the way in which we view and construct knowledge altogether. * 3 Quarks Daily *
Students presently earning degrees in humanities and interdisciplinary studies will benefit from the situational awareness this text brings to the seemingly endless debates regarding the role of the humanities. But the book will be most useful to chairs, deans, and university leadership defending the liberal arts in the trenches. For them, Hayot’s innovative reorganization of undergraduate courses of study and his 'nine articles of humanist reason' will be excellent grist for the mill. * Choice Reviews *
Hayot writes with the lucidity that matches his commitment to rational debate. He bravely threads the needle where others might stay vague. * Public Books *
Challenges us to think anew about what it might mean to engage in a practice overtly identified as humanist reason. * German Quarterly *
This book is a clarion call for institutions to overcome the departmental and disciplinary divides that have distorted public understanding by privileging disciplines that generate laws, generalizations and data over and above those that emphasize interpretation and contextualization. * Inside Higher Ed *