The Aims, Methods, and Materials of Research in the Modern Languages and Literatures

Extract

Any Formulation of aims and methods currently adopted in the fields of modern language scholarship in America must of necessity appear too limited to do justice to the ideals of a learned profession and too rigid to reflect the convictions and interests of its individual members. If, nevertheless, such a statement is offered on the following pages, it is motivated by the desire to survey the assets and liabilities of humanistic studies at a time when the very foundations of these studies have been subject to criticism. The philological profession can point to a greater age and to longer traditions than many another specialized occupation. Although some of its pursuits are now considered antiquated or esoteric, its survival through many transformations testifies to the fact that it serves a basic human need.