Things are looking up . . . I'll just skip ahead to these concluding remarks from the speech:Why the humanities matter
As I said at the beginning, the humanities, arts and social sciences are critical to solving our most pressing real-world problems. These are problems so complex that our only hope of sorting them out is through a multidisciplinary effort.
We can’t improve Indigenous health without understanding the social and cultural circumstances of the people involved. We can’t build better cities without understanding how people live, how they want to live, and how the different parts of their lives fit together. We can’t adapt to global warming without understanding what people’s capacities are, how they interact, and what motivates them.
The humanities, arts and social sciences also have important political work to do. They can give a voice to people who might otherwise be silent. They can articulate the needs of people whose needs might otherwise be overlooked. They can defend the rights of people whose rights might otherwise be denied. Without them it would be impossible to create an innovation system that was truly inclusive, democratic and just.
Without them life would also be pretty dull.
My cultural activities are fairly restricted these days, but a couple of things I’ve enjoyed recently are:
* Peter Temple’s novel The Broken Shore; and
* the Bell Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet.
The first showed me a world similar enough to my own to feel familiar, but different enough to make me look at my own world with fresh eyes. The second reminded me where a great deal of our language comes from, and left me with a strong sense of the continuity between past and present.
Did the book and the play turn a dollar? I hope so. Did they add to the nation’s bottom line? No doubt, in a small way. Is that why I enjoyed them? No, it’s not.
I believe the creative arts – and the humanities and the social sciences – make a terrible mistake when they claim support on the basis of their commercial value.
Whatever they may be worth in the marketplace, it is their intrinsic value we should treasure them for. We should support these disciplines because they give us pleasure, knowledge, meaning, and inspiration.
No other pay-off is required.
The full transcript is well worth a full read, available here: http://minister.industry.gov.au/Carr/Pages/THEARTOFINNOVATION-ADDRESSTOTHENATIONALPRESSCLUB.aspx
Senator the Hon Kim Carr
03 Sep 2008 THE ART OF INNOVATION - ADDRESS TO THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
National Press Club Canberra, ACT
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