Concept

Humanities

Overview

Humanities is academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature and language, as opposed to the study of religion or the concept of "divinity". The study of the humanities was a key part of the secular curriculum in universities at the time. Today, the humanities are more frequently defined as any fields of study outside of natural sciences, social sciences, formal sciences (like mathematics), and applied sciences (or professional training). They use methods that are primarily critical, speculative, or interpretative and have a significant historical element—as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of science.

The humanities include the academic study of philosophy, religion, history, language arts (literature, writing, oratory, rhetoric, poetry, etc.), the performing arts (theater, music, dance, etc.), and the visual arts (painting, sculpture, photography, filmmaking, etc.).

The word humanities comes from the Renaissance Latin phrase studia humanitatis, which translates to study of humanity. The studia humanitatis was a course of study comprising grammar, literature, rhetoric, history, and moral philosophy, primarily drawn from the study of Latin and Greek classics. The related Latin word humanitas inspired the Renaissance Italian neologism umanisti, or "humanists", which referred to scholars dedicated to these fields and were instrumental in reviving classical learning, a hallmark of "Renaissance humanism." (The term humanist can also describe the philosophical position of humanism, which antihumanist scholars in the humanities reject.)

Historically, the humanities have been distinguished from the social sciences by their methods and objectives. While both fields study human behavior and culture, the humanities adopt an idiographic approach (focusing on the unique and context-specific), emphasizing critical, interpretative, and speculative methods, often with an emphasis on historical context and subjective meaning. In contrast, the social sciences employ a nomothetic approach (seeking general laws and patterns) through empirical and quantitative analysis, a distinction first conceptualized by philosopher Wilhelm Windelband. This methodological distinction, however, is not absolute. Although sociology, anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and psychology are commonly classified as social sciences, these fields include scholars who employ qualitative methods closely related to those employed by humanities scholars, such as narrative inquiry, textual analysis, or historical methods.

The humanities have also been justified as fostering self-reflection, civic responsibility, and cultural continuity. Though debates persist about the practical utility of the humanities, proponents argue that their unique focus on meaning, creativity, and critical inquiry contributes both to individual enrichment and the public sphere.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

In the original texts

Passages from public-domain books where Humanities is discussed.

Traditional scholarly practices are undergoing tremendous transformations as a result of the emergence and growing prominence of what is called network-mediated scholarship.
Library of Congress, Workshop on Electronic Texts
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You can give humanistic value to almost anything by teaching it historically. Geology, economics, mechanics, are humanities when taught with reference to the successive achievements of the geniuses to which these sciences owe their being. Not taught thus literature remains grammar, art a catalogue, history a list of dates, and natural science a sheet of formulas and weights and measures.
William James, Memories and Studies
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I should make three broad divisions in school: (1) classics, (2) mathematics and science, (3) modern humanities. This last should include modern languages, history, and literature. In each division it might be possible to specialize somewhat more before leaving school, which I shall suppose does not occur before eighteen. Obviously all who take classics must do both Latin and Greek, but some may do more of the one…
Bertrand Russell, Education and the good life
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When a man denominates another his ENEMY, his RIVAL, his ANTAGONIST, his ADVERSARY, he is understood to speak the language of self-love, and to express sentiments, peculiar to himself, and arising from his particular circumstances and situation. But when he bestows on any man the epithets of VICIOUS or ODIOUS or DEPRAVED, he then speaks another language, and expresses sentiments, in which he expects all his audience…
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
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But if you put the same question to a philosopher, he will, if he is candid, have to confess that his study has not achieved positive results such as have been achieved by other sciences. It is true that this is partly accounted for by the fact that, as soon as definite knowledge concerning any subject becomes possible, this subject ceases to be called philosophy, and becomes a separate science. The whole study of…
Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy
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Humanities

Overview

In the original texts

Philosophers who discussed Humanities

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Opposing perspectives

Place in the tradition