Sara Shariati: Why Should We Study the Humanities?

Sara Shariati, in a lecture at the invitation of Sharaf al-Din Humanities High School, gave interesting answers to the question, "Why should we study the humanities?"

Why should we study the humanities and social sciences? Because these sciences allow us to have an inquiring mind, they allow us to challenge the status quo, they allow us to understand better so that we can change better. The humanities and social sciences, in fact, acquire a liberating quality. What do we gain liberation from? From what is; from total and absolute determinism, from becoming a prisoner of my class, a prisoner of my environment, a prisoner of my neighborhood, a prisoner of attachments I do not approve of.

The social sciences and humanities are the antidote to every kind of totalitarianism, every kind of fatalism, and every kind of fundamentalism. All research has shown that among those who carried out bombings (in these terrorist movements of ISIS and Al-Qaeda), the smallest share belonged to graduates of the humanities, and the largest share belonged to engineers.

Going where we are not supposed to go must become a tradition; that is, you are a teacher and should be at school, but do not be at school, go to the university; you are a university professor, do not be at the university, go to a school, go to a seminary, go to a coffee shop, or go to other spheres where you "normally" should not go. Our society needs this displacement. Basically, in today's world, which is a fragmented world, a world that paradoxically is both being unified by globalization and, in reaction to globalization, is fragmenting, if we do not practice this good tradition of displacement and going where we are not expected, we will always remain prisoners confined to a single tribe, and we will have closed, narrow minds.

It is necessary, as a duty, to go to places that do not belong to our own tribe and like-minded people. To go there to be surprised, to get angry, to be shocked, and then to influence and be influenced. This, I think, is an important tradition in Iranian society. In order to maintain cohesion again, we are forced to somehow connect the pieces of this disunited archipelago and play the role of a bridge.

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Audio of the lecture "Why Should We Study the Humanities"

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Lecture by Sara Shariati at the session "Why Should We Study the Humanities" - April 30, 2017

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