The Challenges of the Humanities, Past, Present, and Future Vol. 1 Edited by Albrecht Classen Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Humanities www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities Albrecht Classen (Ed.) The Challenges of the Humanities, Past, Present, and Future - Volume 1 This book is a reprint of the special issue that appeared in the online open access journal Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787) in 2014 (available at: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities/special_issues/humanities_1). Guest Editor Albrecht Classen Department of German Studies University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 USA Editorial Office MDPI AG Klybeckstrasse 64 Basel, Switzerland Publisher Shu-Kun Lin Assistant Editor Jie Gu 1. Edition 2015 MDPI • Basel • Beijing ISBN 978-3-03842-055-2 © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. All articles in this volume are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. However, the dissemination and distribution of copies of this book as a whole is restricted to MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. III Table of Contents List of Contributors ............................................................................................................. V Alcibiades Malapi-Nelson Humanities’ Metaphysical Underpinnings of Late Frontier Scientific Research Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(4), 740-765 .................................................................... 1 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/4/740 An-bang Yu The Encounter of Nursing and the Clinical Humanities: Nursing Education and the Spirit of Healing Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(4), 660-674 .................................................................. 28 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/4/660 Mauro Bergonzi, Francesco Fiorentino, Domenico Fiormonte, Laura Fortini, Ugo Fracassa, Michele Lucantoni, Massimo Marraffa and Teresa Numerico The New Humanities Project—Reports from Interdisciplinarity Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 415-441 .................................................................. 43 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/415 Vicki A. Spencer Democratic Citizenship and the “Crisis in Humanities” Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 398-414 .................................................................. 70 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/398 Evy Varsamopoulou Timely Meditations: Reflections on the Role of the Humanities in J.M. Coetzee’s Elizabeth Costello and Diary of a Bad Year Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 379-397 .................................................................. 87 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/379 Pedro Talavera Economicism and Nihilism in the Eclipse of Humanism Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 340-378 ................................................................ 106 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/340 Mike Hulme Climate Change and Virtue: An Apologetic Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 299-312 ................................................................ 147 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/299 Vicky Gunn Present Teaching Stories as Re-Membering the Humanities Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 264-282 ................................................................ 161 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/264 IV Iris van der Tuin “Without an Analytical Divorce from the Total Environment”: Advancing a Philosophy of the Humanities by Reading Snow and Whitehead Diffractively Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(2), 244-263 ................................................................ 181 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/2/244 Paul Keen “Imagining What We Know”: The Humanities in a Utilitarian Age Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(1), 73-87 .................................................................... 202 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/1/73 Albrecht Classen The Challenges of the Humanities, Past, Present, and Future: Why the Middle Ages Mean So Much for Us Today and Tomorrow Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(1), 1-18...................................................................... 217 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/1/1 V List of Contributors Mauro Bergonzi: Dipartimento di Scienze Umane e Sociali, Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale", Palazzo Giusso, Largo S. Giovanni Maggiore, 30-80134 Napoli, Italy Albrecht Classen: Department of German Studies, The University of Arizona, 301 LSB, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA Domenico Fiormonte: Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche, Università Roma Tre, Via G. Chiabrera, 199-00145 Roma, Italy Francesco Fiorentino: Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Straniere, Università Roma Tre, Via del Valco di San Paolo, 19-00146 Roma, Italy Laura Fortini: Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Roma Tre, Via Ostiense, 234- 00146 Roma, Italy Ugo Fracassa: Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Roma Tre, Via Ostiense, 234- 00146 Roma, Italy Vicky Gunn: Learning and Teaching Centre, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK Mike Hulme: Department of Geography, King's College London, Strand WC2R 2LS, London, UK; Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU Münich, Leopoldstr. 11a, Münich D-80802, Germany Paul Keen: Department of English, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 2Z8, Canada Michele Lucantoni: Dipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e Spettacolo, Università Roma Tre, Via Ostiense, 234-00146 Roma, Italy Alcibiades Malapi-Nelson: School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Humber College, 205 Humber College Boulevard, Toronto, ON M9W 5L7, Canada Massimo Marraffa: Dipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e Spettacolo, Università Roma Tre, Via Ostiense, 234-00146 Roma, Italy Teresa Numerico: Dipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e Spettacolo, Università Roma Tre, Via Ostiense, 234-00146 Roma, Italy Vicki A. Spencer: Department of Politics, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand Pedro Talavera: Department of Philosophy of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Valencia, 46071 Valencia, Spain Iris van der Tuin: Gender Studies and Philosophy of Science, Department of Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University, Muntstraat 2a, 3512 EV Utrecht, The Netherlands Evy Varsamopoulou: Department of English Studies, University of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos Street, P.O. Box 20537, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus An-bang Yu: Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan 1 Humanities’ Metaphysical Underpinnings of Late Frontier Scientific Research Alcibiades Malapi-Nelson Abstract: The behavior/structure methodological dichotomy as locus of scientific inquiry is closely related to the issue of modeling and theory change in scientific explanation. Given that the traditional tension between structure and behavior in scientific modeling is likely here to stay, considering the relevant precedents in the history of ideas could help us better understand this theoretical struggle. This better understanding might open up unforeseen possibilities and new instantiations, particularly in what concerns the proposed technological modification of the human condition. The sequential structure of this paper is twofold. The contribution of three philosophers better known in the humanities than in the study of science proper are laid out. The key theoretical notions interweaving the whole narrative are those of mechanization, constructability and simulation. They shall provide the conceptual bridge between these classical thinkers and the following section. Here, a panoramic view of three significant experimental approaches in contemporary scientific research is displayed, suggesting that their undisclosed ontological premises have deep roots in the Western tradition of the humanities. This ontological lock between core humanist ideals and late research in biology and nanoscience is ultimately suggested as responsible for pervasively altering what is canonically understood as “human”. Reprinted from Humanities. Cite as: Malapi-Nelson, A. Humanities’ Metaphysical Underpinnings of Late Frontier Scientific Research. Humanities 2014, 3, 740–765. 1. Philosophical Precedents for the Scientific (Explanatory) Notions of Modeling, Mechanism and Simulation 1.1. Duns Scotus: Continuum between Physical Entities and the Divine Being After several centuries of having Aristotle’s works unavailable to Europe, the twelfth century witnessed a revival of Aristotelian philosophy. After a millennium of a Christian philosophy largely based upon Platonisminheriting at times its subsequent relative contempt for the physical realmSt. Thomas Aquinas, a member of the newly formed mendicant Order of St. Dominic, embarked upon the major task of relocating the fundamentals of Christianity upon the newly rediscovered Aristotelian writings. This displacement created waves of tension throughout Christendom. There were deep concerns regarding the outcome of combining the Christian faith with a philosophy which, even if acknowledging the existence of the Divine, it did it in a way that could forever remove it away from a human relational intimacy—Aristotle’s god was not a personal god; even less one that would become man. Aquinas was eventually reivindicated by the Church, which three centuries later placed his Summa Theologica besides the Bible on the altarthe only book ever that enjoyed such honorin the closing Mass for the Council of Trent,