Learning,judgment,and the rooted particular

Abstract

This article begins by acknowledging the general worry that scholarship in the humanities lacks the rigor and objectivity of other scholarly fields. In considering the validity of that criticism, I distinguish two models of learning: the covering law model exemplified by the natural sciences, and the model of rooted particularity that characterizes the humanities. With those two models set forth, I defend the humanities against the general challenge of lack of rigor by showing how objective standards of evaluation are to be understood within the particularity model. I then discuss the distinct benefits offered by that model of learning and conclude by showing how the skills and temperament associated with that model can be usefully deployed to illuminate Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.