Searching for the "Superhumanities"

From Questions of Courage by Nathaniel Williams

May 30, 2025 · 24 min · Episode 31

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges young people face in higher education regarding their existential inquiries and the need for a broader understanding of science and humanities.

This episode explores challenging experiences that young people can have when they first enter college and university with enthusiasm for existential, heartfelt questions. It is not uncommon for young people to feel that the attitudes and methods they meet in the classroom and their professors cannot reach deep enough into the questions they are most passionate about and driven to explore. This can lead to disappointment and a temptation to turn away from their passions for knowledge, growth and understanding. There are, however, ideas, orientations and contemporary calls for expanding the understanding of science in ways that can accommodate the exploration of deeper questions and riddles that are not only intellectual but matters of the heart. Jeffrey Kripal’s suggestion that a new school of the “Superhumanities” is called for, as well as Hubert Dreyfuss and Charles Taylor’s ideas of Pluralist Robust Realism are introduced as examples. References: Hubert Dreyfus and Charles Taylor (2015) Retrieving Realism . (Harvard University Press). William James (2008) Pluralistic Universe: Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the Present Situation in Philosophy . (Cambridge Scholars…

People in this episode

Host: Nathaniel Williams

Topics covered

higher education
existential questions
youth experiences
philosophy
Superhumanities
Pluralist Robust Realism

Keywords

college
university
existential
knowledge
growth
understanding
philosophy
Superhumanities

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Retrieving Realism, Pluralistic Universe: Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the Present Situation in Philosophy, The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities