Teaching the humanities: Seminars as metalogues

In this article I describe a particular way of conceiving a seminar in the humanities—as a ‘metalogue˚s, a learning occasion where the object of study is both a text and the occasion itself, as well as the conscious analogical relation between the two. I argue that this is consonant with the objects of study in the humanities which are not real objects but symbolic objects, representations of relationships whose very nature depends on the relationship between them and the reader. I maintain that a justification for the study of the humanities and a statement of purpose must begin with a statement about the skills and frame of mind that participation in such work fosters, specifically the capacity to think analogically and reflexively and to handle figure-ground (content-process) shifts. I describe two examples of the seminar as metalogue.