Neoliberalism has changed the meaning and value of everything. The purpose of modern education has been reduced to merely offering good careers and jobs. This is inevitable in a market-driven world, as one cannot dare to think about education without a career prospect.

Yet, in these toughest times, when market rationality has colonised all rationalities, we still cannot cease to imagine the moral and social value of education. Scientific and material progress is crucial for the growth of civilisation, but this is not an end in itself, as the real foundation of civilisation lies in growth in arts, poetry, aesthetics, morality, and the collective wellbeing of humanity.

Plato, one of the greatest Greek philosophers, sees education as a means of progress in arts, morality, ethics, and justice. The purpose of education is to expose students to wisdom, cultivate morality, and promote harmony, eventually leading to the collective good of society.

Education is the promotion of what Jean-Jacques Rousseau calls the general will (Volonté générale), which is not the total sum of individual desires but an idea of collective wellbeing. It provides a moral compass that moves beyond personal interests towards the collective good.

This, of course, is not possible without cultivating a sense of collective good and raising critical questions about where we are moving as a human society. In the modern world, material and instrumental rationality are deeply pervasive, treating everything as a commodity. Therefore, the need for subjects in the social sciences and humanities becomes even more urgent and pertinent in these chaotic times.

With emerging socio-political challenges, the social sciences and humanities will no longer remain side subjects. They will potentially open career opportunities in an emerging global economy led by artificial intelligence and the challenges it is unfolding.

The complex interplay between capitalism and artificial intelligence will pose significant challenges to humanity. Solutions to these........

© The Friday Times