The Humanities and Human Flourishing

This book offers a landmark exploration of what the arts and humanities can contribute to the conceptualization and cultivation of human flourishing. Edited by James O. Pawelski--founding director of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project at the University of Pennsylvania--this book serves as the capstone of a decade-long, nine-volume inquiry into the emerging field of the Positive Humanities. Bringing together leading scholars from eight core disciplines in the arts and humanities--philosophy, history, literary studies, religious studies and theology, theater, cinema and media, music, and the visual arts--it provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary examination of how these disciplines engage with, understand, and advance human flourishing. The contributors trace the intellectual histories of their disciplines, investigate the distinctive strengths of reflective inquiry and experiential engagement, and illuminate how bringing these modes together can deepen our understanding of what it means to flourish. The volume addresses central themes in contemporary debates, including the relationship between happiness and flourishing, the various ways the humanities may promote well-being in individuals and communities, the importance of ethics and social justice, the interconnectedness of human and non-human worlds, and the risk of framing flourishing as mere adaptation to unjust conditions. In addition to conceptual analysis, the book highlights practical pathways through which the humanities foster flourishing--creativity and imagination, meaning-making, pedagogy, community building, and social transformation. Concluding with a forward-looking agenda, this book points to new possibilities for advancing human flourishing through a collaboration across the humanities, social sciences, and other domains of inquiry.