In Need of a Name? A Response to Geoffrey Harpham

Geoffrey Harpham critiques humanists' complacency or defeatism about the crisis of the humanities but displays one of the most powerful resources of the humanities in his own conversion of the crisis into a defining strength of humanistic disciplines. Where his defense goes wrong is in linking the humanities to an ideology of the human. How can humanists celebrate and expound the most exciting developments in the humanities in recent years if the term humanities ties them to such an ideology? Would the humanities do better with a new name?