Usually when theories and pseudo-theories run amok in a field, that's an indication that the field has hit a stagnant plateau. Theoretical particle physics is a good example of this right now. Sounds like the Humanities area you are in currently may be stuck right now. But this happens in every area of scholarship from time to time. Everyone writing in the field wants their own theory to be the "universal field theory" that explains everything. It gets to tbe point of being ridiculous.
What has to happen is some kind of discovery or event that changes the way the field is viewed. One example in the Documentary Hypothesis field in Biblical Source theory was the discover of an 8th Cent BCE Greek Historiograph that paralleled Penteuchal texts that were previously accredited to different sources. It was the first real challenge to the JEPD theory in 200 years.
Another example is a historical event that changes the dominant world perspective. After the grim horror of the Great War (WW1), many early 20th cent. liberalists and utopian viewpoints lost prominence. The field of Theology was shaken up, until neo-orthodoxy and Karl Bart came along.
Or, perhaps a better known example might be to point to the phenomenon of "Post-Modernism" that failed to coalesce. Post-colonialism was a reality that caused a major shift in Philosophy toward a post-modernist approach, but then came along Bush-Cheney that was determined to put America first with a Colonialist attitude above the second-world and third-world. Whether we see a rebirth of Post-Modernism remains to be seen.
Anyway, that's my response to the glut of theory and sloppy application you are seeing in your field. I hope my perspective helps put what you are seeing into a *context* of developments in any scholarly field.
I am glad to see that your voice, like Karl Bart's in Theology, is wanting to call Humanities theorists to their collective senses.
no subject
What has to happen is some kind of discovery or event that changes the way the field is viewed. One example in the Documentary Hypothesis field in Biblical Source theory was the discover of an 8th Cent BCE Greek Historiograph that paralleled Penteuchal texts that were previously accredited to different sources. It was the first real challenge to the JEPD theory in 200 years.
Another example is a historical event that changes the dominant world perspective. After the grim horror of the Great War (WW1), many early 20th cent. liberalists and utopian viewpoints lost prominence. The field of Theology was shaken up, until neo-orthodoxy and Karl Bart came along.
Or, perhaps a better known example might be to point to the phenomenon of "Post-Modernism" that failed to coalesce. Post-colonialism was a reality that caused a major shift in Philosophy toward a post-modernist approach, but then came along Bush-Cheney that was determined to put America first with a Colonialist attitude above the second-world and third-world. Whether we see a rebirth of Post-Modernism remains to be seen.
Anyway, that's my response to the glut of theory and sloppy application you are seeing in your field. I hope my perspective helps put what you are seeing into a *context* of developments in any scholarly field.
I am glad to see that your voice, like Karl Bart's in Theology, is wanting to call Humanities theorists to their collective senses.
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