Founded in 1986, the Humanities Institute presents a thematic program each semester on a topic related to the humanities. As part of Scripps’ tradition of interdisciplinary education, this program includes lectures, conferences, exhibitions, performances, and film series bringing prominent and younger cutting-edge scholars to campus.
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Latest Program
“Can we escape the echo chamber?”
We are living through contentious times, when controversies abound and people seem especially polarized. Each side can appear misinformed, evil, and sometimes even inhuman to the other. To think more clearly and humanely, one must see through the fog of conspiracy theories, propaganda, and misinformation. One must also overcome one’s own biases, and resist coming to conclusions first and only then seeking evidence.
But how does one do this, given that so many of us are stuck in echo chambers, online (on social media and news feeds) and even in academia, where agreeable voices are systematically amplified and controversial ones undermined? In such an environment, what sources should one trust and how can one check the facts? Is it any better outside one’s own echo chamber, or does one then enter a larger, more mainstream one where the powers that be control the information? How does one engage with contrary views productively? How do recent developments in technology make matters worse or potentially better?
In the 2024-25 year we will host a series of lectures, discussions, and workshops about this familiar set of problems and explore potential solutions, including new approaches to media literacy and critical thinking.
Upcoming 2025 Spring Events:
February 11
Lecture on Education and Media Literacy
Sam Wineburg (Stanford)
March 7
FIRST WORKSHOP “Bias in a Social Context”
Angel Pinillos (ASU), Gabby Johnson (CMC), Cailin O’Conner (UC Irvine), Alex Mavda (Cal Poly Pomona)
April 4
SECOND WORKSHOP “Deference”
Alex Worsnip (UNC Chapel Hill), Elise Woodard (King’s College London), Hether Battaly (UConn), Michael Hannon (U Nottingham)
April 22
Lecture onNarratives in Social/Political Epistemology
Rachel Fraser (Oxford)
April 24-25
THIRD WORKSHOP “Conspiracy Theories”
Brian Keeley (Pitzer), Eli Alshanetsky (Temple), Sinan Dogramaci (UT Austin), Elise Wang (CSU Fullerton, Carnegie Fellow), Miriam McCormick (U Richmond)
Descriptions, Locations, and Times to be Announced
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