> as if the liberal arts are predicated on producing language rather than language with utility
I'm sure that the liberal arts are engaged in activities and the production of language with some utility, but this is orthogonal to the question of its correspondence to reality or its epistemic value, as originally posed.
Playing the publish or perish game is different from developing some genuine insight, "justified true belief," into the state and mechanics of the world.
The grievance studies affair [0] is replete with "scholarly works" accepted for publication that are devoid of both epistemic and utilitarian value, ranging from the merely absurd to literally paraphrasing Hitler.
I'm sure that the liberal arts are engaged in activities and the production of language with some utility, but this is orthogonal to the question of its correspondence to reality or its epistemic value, as originally posed.
Playing the publish or perish game is different from developing some genuine insight, "justified true belief," into the state and mechanics of the world.
The grievance studies affair [0] is replete with "scholarly works" accepted for publication that are devoid of both epistemic and utilitarian value, ranging from the merely absurd to literally paraphrasing Hitler.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grievance_studies_affair