The Division Between the Different Sciences on the Singularly and Emphatically Human and New Branches of Science

The establishment of the Humboldtian university model and the decisive role allotted to the humanities within it permitted an ongoing formation of new specialized disciplines and subject areas which continually challenged the initial organization. During the nineteenth century, a number of new disciplines and faculties, such as the natural sciences, the life and health sciences, the social sciences, economics and the sciences of business economy and administration, began to establish themselves and assert their independence from the faculty of arts. Often originating in this faculty but also establishing alternative faculties, these disciplines began to offer all sorts of specific empirical and pragmatic forms of knowledge and know-how. In so far as they investigate human modes of being, these disciplines also offer empirical and pragmatic knowledge that add to and may begin to compete with the understanding of the human provided by the traditional humanities. This development establishes not only a new, clear-cut distinction between letters and science, but also the conception of the humanities as a distinct activity in the shape of ‘Geisteswissenschaft’. The separation between forms of knowledge that concern themselves with nature and culture leads not only to subsequent interaction, but also to competition, clashes and science wars. If the humanities are to assert themselves in this context, they can hardly remain self-centred but are forced to study and interact with the ‘new-fangled’ important corpora of knowledge. Measuring up to the challenge constituted by competing knowledge has remained a task ever since.