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Humanities Are Natural

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Cultural Implications of Biosemiotics

Part of the book series: Biosemiotics ((BSEM,volume 15))

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Abstract

There is a very real constraint on culture in the contemporary world, as opposed to the Deaconian constraint which is arguably at the centre of culture. The humanities are currently under assault for their perceived lack of utility. The humanities are found wanting in the face of the putative utility of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and they are increasingly called upon to demonstrate direct economic use-value. Subject areas such as medieval history are seen by critics of the humanities as being arcane, over-specialised and divorced from the brute economic realities which are supposedly paramount in contemporary life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Distinguished Visiting Professor, School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China

    Paul Cobley

  2. President of the International Association for Semiotic Studies; and Professor in Language and Media, School of Media and Performing Arts, Middlesex University, London, UK

    Paul Cobley

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  1. Paul Cobley
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Cobley, P. (2016). Humanities Are Natural. In: Cultural Implications of Biosemiotics. Biosemiotics, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0858-4_8

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