A RECENT report claimed that the United States government is drastically reducing the budget for humanities in American universities. This is in addition to curtailing funding to the State Department, US-funded organizations and peacekeeping forces, raising concerns in some circles about the soft power of the US.

Obsession and infatuation with science and technology has been the hallmark of Western civilization. Admittedly, science has brought innumerable benefits to the West and mankind in all walks of life. Inventions and gadgets have made life easier and saved time, labor and cost of production. Distances have shrunk and the planet looks much smaller for travel and communication. Lately, the “digital wave” has been a major scientific breakthrough, albeit its positives are debated with some caveats.

On the other hand there is also the humanitarian revolution signified by humanistic values. This could not have been possible if books like “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and “Beauty and Beast” had not been written: highlighting the plight of slaves and rights of animals.

Fiction, novel, poetry, drama and works of art have contributed to this attitudinal change. While billions of dollars are spent on entertainment, wars, armament, propaganda and others, much less is spent on arts, humanities and social sciences. In fact, humanities have become the Cinderella sister of social sciences: avoided, ignored and even sneered at.

Mellowing effect

Why is there so much obsession with science and technology? Does the latter provide more and better paying jobs? Does it offer labor-saving devices by easing the drudgery of existence? Does it fulfill man’s ingrained hubris and power over forces of nature?

But little realized is the fact that the world could have been much worse had humanities not existed to humanize and civilize mankind. In the last 300 years, many of old customs, prejudices and mindsets have withered away — if not eliminated — due to mellowing effect of humanities, i.e., literature, music, art, drama sculpture and poetry.

For example, social evils in the 19th century such as slavery and genocide were acceptable to most of the prevailing social systems. Even US President Thomas Jefferson justified the “extermination of American natives.” Whipping of slaves was in vogue till the 20th century and many people turned up to see the last public hanging in the US in 1936 as a spectacle of amusement and curiosity.

Humanities signify soft, humane and refined values and tend to sensitize mankind to the bane of crass and vulgar materialism. Study of humanities has an ennobling effect on the mind and soul. Sadly, the world has by no means turned peaceful. It needs realization that a civilization is not built entirely on mere technology, skyscrapers, microchips and robots.

The Trump administration seems dismissive about study of humanities. Unfortunately many developing countries are also involved in the rat race — their urge for fast development and acquisition of new technologies as symbols of national pride and development.

Do we need drones, bombs and missiles than poetry, music and art and literature? Of course, both have their protagonists; the realists contend that the world is Hobbesian — by nature “nasty, brutish and short.” They charge that advocates of humanistic studies are craving for a pie in the sky that is naïve idealism.

But the fact is that the outlook for the world has never seemed so grim with war drums beating across the world and lurking shadows of a nuclear war. Studying art and humanities, once thought to be a pastime of the high brows with enough luxury, time and resources is no longer true.

There is a general decline in the study of humanities in the West and developing countries are equally mesmerized by the glitter of gadgetry and gizmos. Contraptions have overtaken the love of books and literature and the pursuit of Mammon is making life purposeless and adrift. As William Wordsworth once bemoaned: “The world is too much with us: Getting and spending we lay waste our powers.” No wonder this has led to a host of psycho-social problems: angst, burnout, alienation, use of drugs, inter-person and inter-nation conflicts.

Over-digitalization has robbed a sense of introspection, shortened attention spans and rendered people workaholics and slaves of technology. By neglecting arts, poetry and literature mankind is self-arrogating to itself an illusion of godlike power and wisdom.

Today enamored with gadgetry, young people have lost touch with reading habits, buying and owning books and forgetting writing skills. Computer addiction with its brand of texting has vulgarized thoughts, vocabulary and cerebral thinking. Universities have become minting factories churning out graduates and degrees with no empathy for humane values. Gone are the days when heads of institutions were fount of wisdom and highly respected.

Overtaken by the razzle-dazzle of science and technology, minds have gotten stultified and become robotic. Poverty, violence, ideological hatred, adverse climate effects, terrorism and nuclear shadow loom large on the horizon. Too much automation and affluence robs the human element, leading to alienation of modern societies and without a spiritual anchor. The sick hurry and worry, self-centeredness, instant gratification have led to what psychologists call as lack of mindfulness, resulting in psychosomatic problems.

It may sound utopian and aery fairy but the fact is that human beings are suffering minus the balm of literature, poetry, music and philosophy.

Social sciences are following Western natural science models and methodologies.

Reviving ancient philosophies

The tendency is also creeping in China but has been considerably stalled by farsighted leaders due to revival of ancient philosophies like Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism.

China, in its quest for modernization, is also looking after its cultural and historical roots.

This is not lost on a visitor who sees how parks, music, museums, literary festivals, preservation of architectural sites, learning from old masters’ philosophic writing — are encouraged in tandem with science and technology. Confucius Centers are sprouting across the globe with Confucian analects containing founts of wisdom.

For inter-nation harmony, literature, music, and travel are a sine qua non. Given the spiritual barrenness of life in the West, many Asians are now heading towards China to study.

It is a truism that man does not live by bread alone: ideals and imagination, as reflected in study of humanities have always been there: they add depth, wisdom and verve to humdrum of life in this century with existential angst.

The writer is Visiting Faculty at Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad and former Adviser COMSATS and ex-President, Islamabad Policy Research Institute.