Introduction

Abstract

This forum engages with the role of exactitude in humanities scholarship. Tracing a history of fascination with this epistemic virtue, the contributions to this forum on the “promises of exactitude” explore practices and potentials of exactitude across disciplines as well as novel, innovative fields of research in the humanities and arts. Contributions include discussions of the impact of early psychoanalysis on the epistemology of the humanities, pioneering digital humanists in the historical discipline, early instances of artistic research, and a look at the environmental humanities of today against the background of the emerging discipline of forestry in the first half of the nineteenth century. What all the articles have in common is a critical stance regarding the promises of exactitude. They critically explore both methodological potentials and interdisciplinary aspirations of these four new fields of humanities research and analyze the notions of exactitude in situated practice. Ultimately, these essays shed light on the promises of innovation and societal relevance across the humanities and shift attention to issues of responsibility and accountability in the history of the humanities.