Intellectual Life: What It Is and Why It Matters

FAIN: FT-260082-18

Zena Hitz
St. John's College, Main Campus (Annapolis, MD 21401-1687)

Completion of a book on the importance of intellectual life, addressing historical and contemporary examples of social withdrawal, contemplation, and scientific reflection.

Contrary to many current writers, intellectual life is important for more than just profit or politics. Intellectual activity is good for human beings—as an escape, a refuge, a source of insight, a ground for dignity, and as a way of relating to others. These goods justify our institutions for the humanities and the liberal arts, and lay the ground for the future institutions that may replace them. This book-length essay (approximately 50,000 words) is a response to the 'crisis in the humanities' that puts that crisis in a broader perspective.

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