Open access and funding.
I’m reading Peter Suber’s article titled Promoting Open Access in the Humanities. It talks pretty thoroughly, and – refreshingly – with no obvious bias or bitterness about the differences in funding between the humanities and the STM (science-technology-medicine) fields. One part amused and struck me in particular:
The most succinct wisdom on the usefulness and fundability of humanities research was uttered by Aristippus, a Greek philosopher who sought patronage from one rich Athenian after another. Dionysius once asked him, “Why do I always see you philosophers knocking on the doors of the rich, but I never see the rich knocking on the doors of philosophers?” Aristippus replied, “Because philosophers know what they need and the rich don’t.”
Hear, hear. What a great testimony to the necessity of the humanities, and it’s coupled with an attitude I share: I’ve got a pretty low patience threshold for defending my subject matter. If an adult I’m talking to doesn’t understand the necessity of knowing and practicing the arts, literary arts included, they’re probably beyond my help.
Happily, the people I surround myself with generally don’t need to be convinced of this. But chances are, the person next to me in the supermarket line is a different matter. Sometimes that makes me sad, and reminds me that not being in this for the money is the only sustainable option.