Think clearly. Act well. Appreciate life.
This essay was written by Justin F. White, a BYU Humanities Center faculty fellow. In “A Theory of Jerks,” Eric Schwitzgebel describes the jerk as someone who “culpably fails to appreciate the perspectives of others around him, treating them as tools to be manipulated or fools to be dealt with rather than as moral and …
This essay was written by Aiden Jones, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. I don’t know that I’ve ever been able to use words to communicate as well as Helen Burns, whose “soul sat on her lips, and language flowed” as she spoke to her friend Jane Eyre. [1] Today, language, like almost everything else …
This essay was written by Julia Morgan, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. Dear Rilke, I know you were born in 1875, and that you didn’t write Letters to a Young Poet to me. But I’m in need of some counsel, and, as I am a Young Poet as well, …
Call for Papers BYU Humanities Center Annual Symposium, Fall 2026 “Touch: Sensation, Embodiment, Relation” The sensation of touch is produced by one of the most complex systems in the human body. Current neuroscience research, for example, estimates that the human hand alone contains roughly 17,000 mechanoreceptors—bundles of cells, nerves, and sensory units—that relay myriad stimuli …
This essay was written by Chris Rogers, a BYU Humanities Center faculty fellow. I think, write, and teach about language diversity a lot. In my classes students are asked to analyze the similarities and differences between languages from all over the world, how they have independently developed, and what they uniquely represent for the people …
This essay was written by George Dibble, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. Alone in my room, I listened to a neuroscientist (Caroline Leaf) talk about the 21st century’s rise in preventable deaths. She talked about surging anxiety, depression rates, and especially of my generation (Gen Z). Gallup reports that 47.8 million Americans are diagnosed …