rendering humanities sustainable呈现人文可持续.pdfVIP

Humanities 2012, 1, 64-71; doi:10.3390/h1010064 OPEN ACCESS humanities ISSN 2076-0787 /journal/humanities Editorial Rendering Humanities Sustainable Robert G. Bednarik International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO), P.O. Box 216, Caulfield South, VIC 3162, Australia; E-Mail: robertbednarik@; Tel.: +61-3 Fax: +61-3 Received: 16 September 2011; in revised form: 25 September 2011 / Accepted: 10 October 2011 / Published: 19 October 2011 Launching a journal intended to cover the entire humanities is certainly an audacious project, for two reasons at least. Firstly, this journal will be expected to cover much academic diversity, particularly by including the “social sciences.” However, in this time of rampant overspecialization, perhaps it is precisely such wholeness and breadth of vision that could become a journal’s strength. Secondly, since the viability of the humanities has been questioned from a number of perspectives it seems essential to meet these challenges by reinventing the discipline in response to issues raised—also a major task. It involves justifying the continuation of humanistic traditions. For this, humanists need to consider the nature of these challenges, understand and analyze them, and respond to them. It is therefore inevitable that a forward-looking, new journal in this discipline will deem it relevant to review these matters. The tensions between the natural sciences and the Geisteswissenschaften (“spiritual sci