In what we consider to be a timely collection of essays, the volume Rethinking the Humanities: Paths and Challenges tries to reflect upon the present condition of the humanities and their manifold challenges, acutely dramatized in an era of increasing contingency and globalization. By drawing upon a wide variety of perspectives and areas of research (from literary studies to philosophy, from cultural criticism to the history of ideas), we hope to surpass the now dominant rhetoric of crisis (as it features, for example, in George Steiner's essay 'Humanities - At Twilight?'), not only by...