Fats and Spirits: A Story of Modern Humanities’ Energy Dependence

Abstract

This chapter examines the relation between the social ability to dedicate time and resources to scholarship in the humanities, and the availability of energy. Its main argument is that the blooming of the humanities during the 19th and 20th centuries was tightly related to the great abundance of cheap fossil fuels – coal, gas, and, most significantly, petroleum—which sparked ‘growth’ in many aspects of human life, the humanities included. The humanities represent a human occupation which is not aimed at immediate gains or the satisfaction of the most basic needs; therefore, they have been among the first to suffer due to the declining availability of cheap and easy-to-get energy during the past decades. Dwindling resources and threats brought upon by greenhouse gas emissions are now putting an end to the modern flourishing of the humanities, which will need social, economic, and political supporting mechanisms different from those which have been supporting them for the past two centuries.