The Humanities Challenge: Expanding the Circle of Philosophy

"Philosophy is, or should be, a kind of magic. It is not an escape from but rather a new window-or many windows-onto our lives. It is not so much abstraction as insight and vision. Great philosophers, from the earliest Vedantins to the existentialists, have offered dazzling and disturbing insights and visions, ideas that make our heads spin and make us lose for the moment our everyday orientation and concerns."

"The public humanities, as an enterprise, seeks to share the resources of the field with those not already members of academic circles. But its formats have tended to mimic the default forms of academia: lectures followed by Q&A, open research, and op-eds. While these formats have their place in the public humanities toolbox, they involve preaching to the choir more often than not."

"The Humanities Challenge is an experiment in structure, design, and engagement, which aims to build a multi-week, scaffolded learning experience into a fun, social game. The Humanities Challenge is a set of seven weekly activities that seek to make the humanities accessible and active, with participants taking on a new challenge each week, exploring a different corner of the humanities."

Philosophy functions as a form of magic, providing windows onto human experience and offering insights that challenge everyday perspectives. Great philosophers throughout history have delivered profound ideas that disrupt conventional thinking. However, philosophy's value remains inaccessible to many outside academic circles. Public humanities initiatives attempt to share philosophical resources with broader audiences, but typically employ traditional academic formats like lectures and Q&A sessions that primarily reach already-engaged participants. To expand philosophy's reach, new methods and structures are needed. The Humanities Challenge represents an experimental approach, designed as a multi-week, scaffolded learning experience structured as an engaging social game. Launched in October 2022 by David Haldeman and others at Humanities Washington, the project comprises seven weekly activities that make humanities exploration active and accessible, with participants engaging in philosophical conversations and creative exercises.

Read at Apaonline