Economics and the Humanities

In the last year we have witnessed the needs of financial markets replace political philosophy and redefine the relationship between citizens and the nation state. Market demands have been no less dominant in redefining what passes for knowledge in institutions of higher learning charged with educating those very citizens. In her latest article, “The Liberal Arts and the Marketplace,” AUR Professor of English Lisa Colletta examines what is at stake when a culture abandons its commitment to educating citizens and responds primarily to the needs of the marketplace. Professor Colletta’s work is included in a special issue of the Western Humanities Review dedicated to the topic of Economics and the Humanities, which raises challenging and unsettling questions about who defines knowledge and who will own it in the future.