Years ago I attended a history conference with my then-chairman. One speaker was a medievalist (now retired) who gave what to me was an interesting talk about a society in medieval Spain whose mission was to ransom Christians who had become prisoners of the Muslims. Afterwards my chairman was livid: his attitude was that we should only be interested in topics that will make our students better citizens.
What is the social value of knowing about the battle of Marathon or the battle of Cannae?
In 413 B.C. the Athenian forces besieging Syracuse were destroyed because, following a lunar eclipse, their general Nicias believed the soothsayers who told him that they should not go anywhere for 27 days. The delay in leaving led to them all being killed or captured, with few exceptions.
I'm thinking of going to a conference in October which would require traveling less than 27 days after a lunar eclipse. I'm pondering whether it's safe to do so, bearing Nicias' experience in mind.
Arcane knowledge rocks!
“Why does a subject have to have “social value” for it to be OK for some people to specialize in it?”
I agree with you that many “arcane” subjects have social (or at least personal) value; and I believe that a “liberal arts” education has been, unwisely, devalued in recent years. The question is to what extent we want to spend taxpayer money to subsidize enrollment in courses that mainly have “consumption” value.