Change That Endures

Penn Humanities Forum celebrates 10 years of exploring the human adventure.

Peter Nichols

The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously observed that you can’t step twice into the same river. Although the river course stays within two banks, its waters are ever flowing. You can’t even step into the same waters once. “All is flux, nothing stays still,” Heraclitus taught, pointing up an obvious fact, a source of suffering and surprise, and a profound mystery of human experience. “Nothing endures but change.”

Each year, the Penn Humanities Forum sponsors a rich program of public lectures, exhibits and performances as well as student and faculty research around a carefully chosen theme. In previous years, the program has explored topics related to origins, travel, word and image, sleep and dreams, belief, the book, time, style, human nature, and Philadelphia writers. For 10 years, Forum programs and events have been the source of an ongoing cultural conversation – on campus and in town – that flows out of some aspect of humanistic study captured momentarily by an annual theme. This year, the Penn Humanities Forum steps into the waters swirling around the idea of change. 

“At the most rudimentary level, change is necessary for humans to exist,” notes Peter Struck, an associate professor of classical studies and faculty-topic director for this year’s theme. “All biological matter requires it, and so do we. Closer to home, many of us have lived through a decade (the ’90s) when people were declaring the ‘end of history’ and were confident that all we humans had left to do was tinker with our markets. This placid attitude was ripped open at the beginning of our current century. Now, once again, many things seem to be in flux, so it is timely to consider change again and its place in human history.”

During the academic year, the Penn Humanities Forum sponsors roundtable discussions and research conferences for graduate students; an undergraduate forum and essay contest; and an array of fellowships for students at all levels, Philadelphia-area faculty and young postdoctoral scholars from around the world. The annual theme allows the Forum to invite notable thinkers and renowned artists who open up surprising perspectives that change the minds of scholars and members of the general public. This year’s speakers include philosopher and environmental scientist Dale Jamieson on the moral and political challenges of climate change, National Geographic’s explorer-in-residence Spencer Wells on the out-of-Africa migratory history of the human species, linguist William Labov on language change in America, novelist Amy Bloom (Love Invents Us) on changing your mind about love, and philosopher Ian Hacking on what it means when genetic sciences rather than the humanities define who we are.

“I like to think of the Penn Humanities Forum as the University’s front door to the liberal arts,” Professor Struck says. “We are the place to come to find out what’s cooking inside.”

The river of programs for this year’s Forum is already running. Come step into its waters before they flow away.