In the aftermath of the First World War, the poet Paul Valery wrote of a crisis of spirit , brought about by the instrumentalization of knowledge and the destructive subordination of culture to profit. Recent events demonstrate all too clearly that that the stock of mind, or spirit, continues to fal...

In the aftermath of the First World War, the poet Paul Valery wrote of a crisis of spirit , brought about by the instrumentalization of knowledge and the destructive subordination of culture to profit. Recent events demonstrate all too clearly that that the stock of mind, or spirit, continues to fall.