Budoucnost humanitních věd - O výuce umění, náboženství, filosofie, literatury a historie – Kaufmann Walter (2025)

Walter A. Kaufmann (1921-1980) was a German-American philosopher, poet, and respected translator of philosophical, theological, and poetic works. The book The Future of the Humanities, which is Kaufmann's last book, was first published in New York in 1977 and addresses the crisis in the humanities. A German thinker of Jewish descent who fled to the USA from Hitler in the late 1930s, he openly admits that the future of classical humanities education is very uncertain and that this is significantly influenced by how the humanities are cultivated and taught.

What can we expect from classical humanities education in a postmodern world oriented towards technological progress and pragmatism? Can the critical state of the humanities be perceived as a cause or a consequence of social development? Are those who teach and care for the humanities to blame, or is it the educational system reflecting societal demand? And is it even a crisis, or rather just a natural development related to the democratization of education and the transformation of modern human sensibility?

Even more than fifty years after its publication, Kaufmann's thoughts on the humanities remain relevant and inspiring. His proposals on how...