The Contribution of the Humanities to the Advancement of Public Administration

Ongaro, Edoardo; Orsina, Giovanni and Castellani, Lorenzo (2025). The Contribution of the Humanities to the Advancement of Public Administration. In: Ongaro, Edoardo; Orsina, Giovanni and Castellani, Lorenzo eds. The Humanities and Public Administration: An Introduction. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 1–22.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035333608.00006

Abstract

This chapter develops the argument at the core of this book about the significance of bringing (back) the humanities into the field of public administration, public governance, public management, government, and public policy (collectively referred to as PA). It argues that reason as employed and deployed in the humanities generates a kind of knowledge and understanding which is different and complementary to the knowledge generated by the ‘scientific reason’. This chapter therefore discusses why and how the humanities and the social sciences can and ought to complement one another in the study and the practice of PA. An overview of the book and a discussion of limitations and research prospects conclude the chapter.

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