Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 39, No. 397.
        Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
                      Hosted by DH-Cologne
                       www.dhhumanist.org
                Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org




        Date: 2026-04-06 10:59:44+00:00
        From: Mcgann, Jerome (jjm2f) <jjm2f@virginia.edu>
        Subject: Re: [Humanist] 39.394: consequences for research?

Willard: I see few things in your question that are especially pertinent.

      It’s obviously true that electronic media have greatly increased the cache
of accessible information about any given topic.  Sorting it, not least sorting
out the trash, can be a formidable task.  As always, peer-review is a help,
though the explosion of peer-reviewed publications is a dangerous mountain range
itself.  One has to peer review the cache of peer-reviewed sources either by
oneself or with the help of others.
      “Peer Review” signals that the more salient issues are institutional and
social.  It’s an operator that defines one’s vocation as education and
scholarship.  The two can and cannot (must not and must) be distinguished, and
individuals always exhibit different ways of facing those two obligations to
knowledge.  Information -- what in a more innocent time we called “facts” – are
unevadable in the purviews of both, but in the case of scholarship  the task of
identifying and assessing information will be fundamental.
      That being a brief statement of how I see what I (we) do, I have three
watchwords: TRY ALWAYS TO be thorough, be accurate, be honest.  And as a famous
person once said in a less secular context, the greatest of these is honesty.
      A lot more might and should be said.  But while electronic media have
altered the landscape, I don’t think they have appreciably changed anything
fundamental in our vocation.  Does that make me a Humanist?   Another time I’d
try to explain why / how I don’t see myself framed by that term as it has
commonly been used.

Jerry

From: Humanist <humanist@dhhumanist.org>
Date: Monday, April 6, 2026 at 3:00 AM
To: Mcgann, Jerome (jjm2f) <jjm2f@virginia.edu>
Subject: [Humanist] 39.394: consequences for research?


              Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 39, No. 394.
        Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
                      Hosted by DH-Cologne
                       www.dhhumanist.org<http://www.dhhumanist.org>
                Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org




        Date: 2026-04-06 06:44:20+00:00
        From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
        Subject: consequences for research?

As I download and celebrate the acquisition of articles and books
relevant to my research, I observe an ever widening of interests. Given
the finitude of life (time of being sentient, energies available) this in turn
leads to wondering about the consequences for research of the growing
abundance of the visibly relevant..

One such is the weakening and collapse of the artificial boundaries
erected by disciplinary practitioners (we need them but on occasion we
need to step over them and try to make ourselves at home); another is
the letting go of micro-detail still uncovered; yet another is (I observe in
myself) the deliberate refusal to resolve the unanswered or unanswerable
questions. One sharp-eyed reviewer commented that I had let go many
hares but showed no sign of interest in chasing them. In my view, they
were unchasable at the present time. Identifying research questions I could
not answer, perhaps by no one, was deliberate--but, it seems, remarkable.

The consequence that would worry most of us would be the expansion of
time required to get things done, published, dropped with a thud on the
department chair's desk &c. In defence of those who find themselves in
this position, I'd be tempted to point a finger at the expectation that
research should come up with CONCLUSIONS if not ANSWERS, rather than
exhibit mind-stimulating, ludic exploration.

I'd be grateful for comments on the above.

Best,
WM
--
Willard McCarty,
Professor emeritus, King's College London;
Editor, Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts,
   Sciences and Humanities (Berghahn); Humanist
www.mccarty.org.uk<http://www.mccarty.org.uk>



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