Understanding Ourselves

Abstract

Chapter 9 builds on the arguments of its predecessors, focusing on the social sciences and the humanities. Its central theme is the importance of an interactive curriculum in these disciplines in promoting self-understanding. The subjects in question, when imaginatively combined, can play an important part in helping developing individuals discover the path they wish to pursue, and the character of the social environment in which they will make their journey. Literature, art, geography, history, anthropology, psychology, economics, and political science are all crucial parts of a general pre-university course of study. As before, the chapter makes concrete proposals. It concludes with a discussion of the value of studying foreign languages, and of an introduction to philosophy at the pre-university level.