This article presents a reflection on the role that the humanities could play in supporting possible reading and writing difficulties that are currently experienced by university students in a global context. It begins by examining the issues emerging in the Spanish-speaking world and proposes a possible change in our concept of knowledge in universities. This transformation is explored in two essays, one by Martha Nussbaum (2010) and the other by François Rastier (2013). A comparative analysis of these two texts allows to establish a common basis on the role that these sciences can have in a university facing the consequences that the changes in the conception of knowledge could generate in the higher education.