What role do the humanities play in our scientific world?

• LANS Distinguished Lecture series
• Speaker: Professor Martin Willis
• Professor of English Literature, Chair, British Society for Literature and Science and Editor of the Journal for Literature and Science

Abstract

The relationship between the humanities and the sciences often has the hallmarks of melodrama: one is forever falling out of love with the other, or entering into a crisis of faith about their ongoing suitability. In this lecture I want to examine the long history of this relationship, highlighting those key moments where the disciplines have successfully combined as well as moments of disruption and conflict. Looking backwards, across 200 years, will enable me to consider their present interdisciplinary relationship and ask what the future holds for collaborative success. This is a story that will take me from Frankenstein to Futurology, during which we will encounter the key protagonists in what might be described as a battle to define truth and evidence.