Hayot 45: "It is because the historical or cultural object is unique [...] that it must be treated with methods that are unique to it, that it cannot simply be treated as an instance of a pattern or example of a system"
"at its core, [...] all unique objects deserve to be interrogated or researched by methods that require some knowledge of that object [...] the object can only be approached respectfully, seriously, if one already treats it in ways that are generated from within by the object itself. This is why humanistic work has less to do with explanation (which comes from without) and more to do with understanding the object of research"
47: "Humanistic knowledge, in this conception, is the kind of knowledge that shares properties with its object" (at minimum we must borrow from it "the fundamental structures by which it will be evaluated, and therefore valued")