THE HUMANITIES AND PUBLIC LIFE
Book ID/图书代码： 04831114B74703
English Summary/英文概要： Is there an ethics of reading, and is this something that the interpretive humanities can and should contribute to other professional fields, including law, and to public life?
This book tests the proposition that the humanities can, and at their best do, represent a commitment to ethical reading. And that this commitment, and the training and discipline of close reading that underlie it, represent something that the humanities need to bring to other fields: to professional training and to public life.
What leverage does reading, of the attentive sort practiced in the interpretive humanities, give you on life? Does such reading represent or produce an ethics? The question was posed for many in the humanities by the "Torture Memos" released by the Justice Department a few years ago, presenting arguments that justified the use of torture by the U.S. government with the most twisted, ingenious, perverse, and unethical interpretation of legal texts. No one trained in the rigorous analysis of poetry could possibly engage in such bad-faith interpretation without professional conscience intervening to say: This is not possible.
Teaching the humanities appears to many to be an increasingly disempowered profession--and status--within American culture. Yet training in the ability to read critically the messages with which society, politics, and culture bombard us may be more necessary than ever in a world in which the manipulation of minds and hearts
is more and more what running the world is all about.
This volume brings together a group of distinguished scholars and intellectuals to debate the public role and importance of the humanities. Their exchange suggests that Shelley was not wrong to insist that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of mankind: Cultural change carries everything in its wake. The attentive interpretive reading practiced in the humanities ought to be an export commodity to other fields and to take its place in the public sphere.in the public sphere.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 閱讀的道德性是否存在？
詮釋性的人文學科是否能夠，且應該對其他專業領域有所貢獻，包括法學及公眾生活？
「訓練批判性地閱讀社會、政治及文化圈轟炸我們的訊息，從沒像現在如此重要……」
本書驗證人文學科是否能承擔一種道德性閱讀的責任。文本細讀的訓練及紀律都以此責任為基礎，人文學科需要將此帶進其他領域，包括專業訓練至公眾生活。
詮釋性的人文學科中，關注細節的閱讀方法對你的生活有甚麼樣的影響力？這類型的閱讀是否代表或產生一種道德？美國司法部幾年前所發表「酷刑手冊」(Torture Memos)讓人文學科界面對這項問題，「酷刑手冊」呈現的論調是美國政府以扭曲、巧妙、不正當且不道德的方法詮釋法律，正當化酷刑手段。在詩學的嚴苛分析訓練之下，無人能在參予這樣惡意的詮釋時，不以專業良心介入說：這絕不該發生。
在許多人眼中，包括美國文化圈在內，教導人文學科的專業與地位正逐漸削弱。但訓練批判性地閱讀那些社會上、政治及文化圈轟炸我們的訊息，從沒像現在如此重要，在這樣的環境下，控制心智逐漸成為主宰世界的手段。
此書集合傑出的學者與知識份子，辯論人文學科的公眾角色與重要性。他們的交流暗示著雪萊(Shelley)的堅持是對的，詩人為人類立訂法則，雖然他們是沒有獲得認可的立法者：文化變遷隨後會帶走一切。實踐於人文學科的關注細節詮釋性閱讀應當成為有用的工具，傳授至別的領域，且在公眾領域占有一席之地。(Ramona)
Awards/获奖情况：由耶魯大學名譽退休教授布魯克斯及文學學者潔偉特共同編輯的傑出選集，拋出問題：人文學科與公眾生活的關係為何？這本書若有願意投資的讀者持續關注，這樣承諾就會兌現……這本選集將會一次又一次的喚醒讀者。
－－《出版人週刊》書評(Publishers Weekly Review)
如同路德在異邦麥田思鄉，人文學者似乎迷失在工具理性(instrumental reason)的冰冷荒野。《人文學科與公眾生活》則提供救贖的可能性，一段令人振奮且耳目一新的對話。
－－羅伯．波斯特(Robert Post) ，耶魯大學法學教授
這不僅是睿智的評論合集，《人文學科與公眾生活》提供足夠的空間給它傑出的參予者討論、對話、表達異議。這本書充滿知識份子的活力，強力推薦給關心閱讀道德性問題及人文學科的公共財的人。
－－莉塔．菲爾斯基(Rita Felski)，維吉尼亞大學英語系教授
"Like Ruth, homesick among the alien corn, humanities scholarship seems lost in the cold wilderness of instrumental reason. The Humanities and Public Life is a tonic and refreshing conversation about the possibility of redemption."-Robert Post, Yale Law School
"More than just a collection of smart essays, The Humanities and Public Life leaves ample room for discussion, dialogue, and dissent among its distinguished participants. This volume crackles with intellectual energy . Strongly recommended for anyone concerned with the ethics of reading and the public good of the humanities."-Rita Felski, University of Virginia
"This is a highly original and deeply exhilarating contribution to public debate about the value of the humanities. The scholars convened by Brooks are individually first-rate and diverse in field, representing literary studies, philosophy, politiical theory, law, and humanistic social science. Their insightful brief essays (it does not denigrate the others if I single out Elaine Scarry’s beautiful meditation on the imagination and Jonathan Lear’s haunting evocation of cultural loss) are framed by vigorous discussion and genuine interdisciplinary exchange. Stimulating for scholars and non-scholars alike, this book is unique for the range and quality of perspectives it makes available."-Martha C. Nussbaum, University of Chicago
"This superb collection, edited by Yale University emeritus professor Books and lawyer and literary scholar Jewett, asks: What is the relationship between the humanities and public life? Though the book requires sustained attention from even the most invested reader, commitment will be rewarded. . . This collection will rouse its readers again and again."--Publishers Weekly Review
About the Author/作者介绍： 彼德．布魯克斯(Peter Brooks)
耶魯學術最高等級斯特林教席，比較文學系榮譽退休教授，普林斯頓大學比較文學系及人類價值研究中心，安德魯海隆基金會(the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation)學者。
希拉蕊．傑偉特(Hilary Jewett)
「閱讀道德性」計畫主持人，同時為律師、文學學者及編輯。
Peter Brooks is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Yale University and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Scholar at the University Center for Human Values and the Department of Comparative Literature at Princeton University.
Hilary Jewett, Assistant Director of the "Ethics of Reading" project, is a lawyer, literary scholar, and editor.
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