Rachel DeLue’s role in helping lead the future of the humanities at Princeton could not be more crucial. I hope she is aware of the pioneering work of Iain McGilchrist in explicating some of the problems we are now facing that, in many ways, involve the “collision” between the humanities and technology that Professor DeLue cites.
McGilchrist’s assessment and recommendations as to this collision are based on his unusually broad intellectual background. After several years as an English professor at Oxford, he attended medical school and became a psychiatrist. He then did neurophysiological work and became as knowledgeable as anyone I know in the specialized roles of our left and right cerebral hemispheres, while also being deeply learned in philosophy.
In a long historical movement that deserves to be called “sinister,” the ideal balance between our hemispheres has been disrupted by the excesses of the enlightenment and the scientific revolution.
As a result, we are losing the sense of what Professor DeLue calls “a meaningful life,” which is enriched by the humanities, as they activate and strengthen the right hemisphere’s role in empathy, intuition, and imagination. Eschewing the widespread binary bias, McGilchrist calls for a more balanced view that honors four main pathways to the truth: science, reason, intuition, and imagination.
Princeton is uniquely positioned to help lead the way to restoring a healthier balance for all of us.
Rachel DeLue’s role in helping lead the future of the humanities at Princeton could not be more crucial. I hope she is aware of the pioneering work of Iain McGilchrist in explicating some of the problems we are now facing that, in many ways, involve the “collision” between the humanities and technology that Professor DeLue cites.
McGilchrist’s assessment and recommendations as to this collision are based on his unusually broad intellectual background. After several years as an English professor at Oxford, he attended medical school and became a psychiatrist. He then did neurophysiological work and became as knowledgeable as anyone I know in the specialized roles of our left and right cerebral hemispheres, while also being deeply learned in philosophy.
In a long historical movement that deserves to be called “sinister,” the ideal balance between our hemispheres has been disrupted by the excesses of the enlightenment and the scientific revolution.
As a result, we are losing the sense of what Professor DeLue calls “a meaningful life,” which is enriched by the humanities, as they activate and strengthen the right hemisphere’s role in empathy, intuition, and imagination. Eschewing the widespread binary bias, McGilchrist calls for a more balanced view that honors four main pathways to the truth: science, reason, intuition, and imagination.
Princeton is uniquely positioned to help lead the way to restoring a healthier balance for all of us.