A new history of the humanities the search for principles and patterns from Antiquity to the present

This book offers the first overarching history of the humanities from Antiquity to the present. Unlike the sciences and the social sciences, the humanities lack a general history. There are already historical studies of musicology, logic, art history, linguistics, and historiography. This book pulls all these fields together, with many more, in a single coherent account. It takes as it main theme the way scholars throughout the ages and in virtually all civilizations have sought to identify patterns in texts, art, music, languages, literature, and the past. What rules can we apply if we wish to determine whether a tale about the past is really trustworthy? By what criteria are we to distinguish consonant from dissonant musical intervals? What rules jointly describe all possible grammatical sentences in a language? How can modern digital methods enhance pattern-seeking in the humanities? A New History of the Humanities amounts to a persuasive plea to give Panini, Valla, Bopp, and countless other often overlooked intellectual giants their rightful place next to the Galileos, Newtons, and Einsteins we celebrate so much more often.