Wells edited an issue of Diogenes with “a view to introducing and explaining the history, purpose, and function of […] international learned societies”, specifically FILLM itself and its member associations.
[5] The idea behind the issue had taken form during the 21st International FILLM Congress in Harare, Zimbabwe (1999) and, according to Wells, it was essentially a response to a more widespread crisis among larger academic organizations (in particular those concerned with languages and literature).
[8] Wells notes that whereas academic organizations such as FILLM had experienced a period of rapid growth and success during the 1950s and 1960s by the end of the 20th century their existence was “often questioned even by professional academics working within the discipline, and their very existence [was] largely unknown outside it, even to educated persons.”[5] Wells provides a number of explanations for this change, ranging from increased specialization within the fields and a lack of financial support from governments to the organizations’ inability to create a useful function for themselves.
[30][31] The book series is a direct response to twentieth-century professionalization and specialization which, despite its advantages, have "tended to divide scholars into many separate and often smallish groupings between which communication could be rather sporadic".
[1] The book series has been created "in the hope of fostering a truly international community of scholars within which a rich diversity of interests would be upheld by a common sense of human relevance".
Every book presents original findings [...] which will be of prime interest to those who are experts in its particular field of discussion, but also seeks to engage readers whose concerns have hitherto lain elsewhere.