Meaning of the Humanities

The term ‘Humanities’ comes from a Latin word humanus, which means ‘human, cultured and
refined’. Generally, human beings possess and show quality like rationality, kindness and tenderness. Such
basic qualities of humans gain different connotations based on one’s environment, values, beliefs and
experiences. They are the contributing factors to the refinement of human’s basic qualities.

At present, we know of humanities as a loosely defined group of academic subjects united by a

commitment to studying aspects of the human condition and a qualitative approach that generally prevents
a single paradigm from coming to define any discipline. Unlike other subjects, it is not a group of scientific or
technical subjects.

Humanities, however, should not be confused with the term humanism, which refers to a specific
philosophical belief, nor with humanitarianism, which is the concern for charitable works and social reform.

Academically, we refer to the humanities as the study of arts – the visual arts such as architecture,
painting and sculpture; music; dance; the theater or drama; and literature. They are the branches of
learning concerned with the human thought, feelings and relations.

The study of arts is the study of mankind. Humanities, being the study of arts, have always been
concern with the importance of human being, his feelings, and how he expresses those feelings. However,
it should be stressed that the humanities emphasize analysis and exchange of ideas rather than the
creative expression of the arts or the quantitative explanation of the sciences.

Significance of the Humanities

Art is very important in our lives. It constitutes one of the oldest form and most important means of
expression developed by man. It is a language, which is charged with feelings and significance that has
sprung up among men living together.

Art is concerned with the communication of certain ideas and feelings by means of a sensuous
medium – color, sound, bronze, marble, words and film. This medium is fashioned through a symbolic
language marked by beauty of design and coherence of form. It appeals to our minds, arouses our
emotions, kindles our imagination, and enchants our senses. (Machlis, 1963). Thus, each artwork reflects
the ideals, hopes and fears of the times in which an individual live.

The humanities are the stories, the ideas, and the words that help us make sense of our lives and
our world. The humanities introduce us to people we have never met, places we have never visited, and
ideas that may have never crossed our minds. By showing how others have lived and thought about life, the
humanities help us decide what is important in our own lives and what we can do to make them better. By
connecting us with other people, they point the way to answers about what is right or wrong, or what is true
to our heritage and our history. The humanities help us address the challenges we face together in our
families, our communities, and as a nation.

Why should we study the Humanities?

The different subject areas are studied not for their own sake but in the light of how they relate and
speak to contemporary man. More importantly, the course is expected to help the students grow up to be
better human beings than they were before they enrolled in the course.

The teaching of the humanities is intended to make the students realize that the mere possession
of knowledge is useless unless put to useful ends. Moreover, they would become aware that knowledge
alone is meaningless unless it is accompanied by values, sentiments, priorities, insights, inter-relationships
and other transcendent realities not subject to empirical proofs also form part of the person’s education. In
the humanities, the students are exposed to these, thus, the development of the whole person, which is the
goal of present day education.

LESSON 2. SCOPE OF THE HUMANITIES

In the academe, the humanities is considered as part of the social sciences and the natural
sciences, one of the three major components of the liberal arts and sciences.

The humanities is a multi-faceted subject. While the precise definition of the humanities can be
contentious, the following disciplines are generally recognized to form their core:

Philosophy. Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters
such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, law, justice, validity, mind, and language. It is described as the
love of truth, wisdom and intelligence by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on
reasoned argument.

When man asks and seeks answers to questions such as: Who am I? Where have I come from?
What is the meaning of life? What can I do to remain an effective, responsible member of the society? ,
man is trying to see himself as human. Thus, he is searching for truth and wisdom. This is the philosophical
approach in achieving the ultimate goal of the humanities, which is to make man more human.

Psychology. Psychology is the scientific study of the behavioral characteristics of an individual,

including the functions and processes of mind, in relation to the social and physical environment. As a
science, it gathers knowledge by carefully observing and measuring events and experimenting. It is also an
art because it develops skills in applying scientific knowledge to problem solving.

Being the field of science that studies the mental processes of man, psychology is always
concerned with human thoughts, feelings and emotion. Furthermore, it seeks to explain the factors that
affects how man expresses certain emotions and executes certain behavior.

Sociology. Sociology is the study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins,
organization, institutions, and development of human society. It focal interest is on how humans deal with
other human beings within his communal sphere.

The Core Foundation of the Humanities

The human body has always been central to sociology because sociology is about the organization
of collections of human bodies into forms of social life. Sociologists have also always been concerned with
the question of the boundary between the biological and the social in the formation of human identity; the
so-called nature/nurture controversy. But until the late 1970s the body as the physical expression or
embodiment of human identity, personal experience, and action was largely ignored by sociologists, who
concentrated on the structuring of groups and societies. It has been concerned with the analysis of a social
institution or societal segment as a self-contained entity or in relation to society as a whole.

History. History is the study of the past, with special attention to the written record of the activities
of human beings over time. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyze the
sequence of events, and it often attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that
determine events.

The study of history has sometimes been classified as part of the humanities and other times as
part of the social sciences. It can also be seen as a bridge between those two broad areas, incorporating
methodologies from both.

Archeology. Archeology is the scientific study of past human culture and behavior, from the origins
of humans to the present. Archeology studies past human behavior through the examination of material
remains of previous human societies. These remains include the fossils (preserved bones) of humans, food
remains, the ruins of buildings, and human artifacts—items such as tools, pottery, and jewelry. From their
studies, archaeologists attempt to reconstruct past ways of life.

Archaeologists concentrate their studies on past societies and changes in those societies over
extremely long periods of time. The chronological data that the archaeologists gather can provide
information such as how the use of a new style of pottery or type of weapon spread from one region to
another over time. By analyzing this information for several related archaeological sites, archaeologists
assemble long sequences of past human cultures.

Being the study of arts, humanities consist of the visual arts, literature, drama and theater, music
and dance.
LESSON 3. THE ARTIST AND HIS CREATIVE WORKS

An Artist

An artist is a person who exhibits exceptional skills in either various or specific areas and/or sub-
areas of arts. Unlike other people, he is more sensitive and more creative. He possesses to an unusual
degree the talent for interpreting ideas in artistic form through the use of words, pigments, stone, notes, or
nay other materials used by artists. When he sees or learns something that impresses him, he expresses
himself in one medium or another so that others may understand it, too. He, thus, learns to project his
creative impulse through the symbols of his art – a picture, a poem or a piece of music according to his
present inspiration and his training. However, the process of creation differs in degree from that of an
amateur or a beginner.

There are two kinds of artists in the field of the performing arts, the creators and performers. As
such, a composer writes a song to be sung by talented singers; a dramatist or playwright writes a play to be
staged by a company of actors; a choreographer composes a dance sequence which will be performed by a
troupe of dancers. Music, theater and dance are performing arts. Besides the creator, they require other
artist who recreate what has been composed. In the real sense, a song cannot be considered complete until
it has been sung or a choreography until it has been danced. Therefore, performers are equally important.

Although the artistry of performers is based on the creation of others, they bring individual
interpretations to their performances. Two great performers may render the same masterpiece quite
differently. Thus, in the performing arts, the ideas and interpretations of the performer are added to the
original ideas of the creator. This dual contribution gives added richness and meaning to this field of the
arts. It makes performing arts different from the visual arts in the way by which creative artists communicate
directly with the observer.

The process of Creativity

The process of creativity is three-fold – the artist as the prime mover, communicating his ideas
through the performer, as his interpreter to the audience. Each participates actively in the creative process;
although in the case of the audience (observer, reader, listener), the intensity of the activity may be less
than that of the artist who produces the work.
Creativity is an artist’s trait developed in the course of his life to solve problems or express his feelings. His
continuing reaction to the emerging conditions of the nature and social life gives birth to new ideas and
methods. These in turn, he uses to overcome difficulties which in the process of confrontation with reality
give the solution to a vision, create art, or activate social transformation.

The Process of Creation

Art experts are one on their view that there are three major phases of creation. First, the artist must
have an idea; second, he must have a material to work on; and third, he must give form to his idea.

The Idea. Artists are highly sensitive persons especially aware of the things that surround them.
They notice the sounds, colors and movements of people and things. Art expression is based on the so-
called higher senses of light and sound, with other senses playing more or less indirect roles. A particular
experience may impress an artist so much that he decides to use it as basis for a picture, a poem, a song, a
play or a dance.

A painter, depending on his cultural background, my be attracted by anything. He paints a picture

from a scene where most people do not think beauty existed.

A composer may write a song on the developing romance of a man to a woman, or on the pains of
a broken-hearted. A dancer may do a dance on the pleasures and discomforts of growing up. As a basis for
his dance movements, he might use the idealism of adolescence, the developing charm of boys and girls,
their sensitivity, their awkwardness, and occasional loneliness. In all these expressions, the artists clarify,
identify, and give new meaning to the experiences which are nearly common to everyone. Through dance,
the events of life are given symbolic and ceremonial form.

Playwrights and novelists may right about life and the frailties of man, his hopes and fears, his
courage and cowardice, his charity and greed or a fantasy in which a world of mystery and imagination is
explored. The great novelist would show us that the great social and economic problems of our times are
essentially human problems and he would make us aware of the effects of the advances of science and
technology on human beings.
Poets, with their artistry of statement, have given nobility and intensity to man’s experiences.

The Material and Process. The second phase of creation in art concerns the material which the
artist uses to give form to his idea. A painter uses pigments; a sculptor uses stone, metal or wood; an
architect, various building materials. An author uses words; a composer, musical sounds which he sets
down as notes. A choreographer uses people and their movements as materials for his creations. The
artist’s materials have a profound effect on his products.

Organization and Form. The third phase is organizing the idea and giving it form in the selected
material. Artists have developed a host of different forms to express the ideas they work on. In this phase,
the artist must decide whether the form grows out of the idea or the problem which prompted it; whether it
has been given is individualized and unique; whether the work has unity; and whether the organization in
itself calls forth an aesthetic response from us.

In any field of art, it is the idea which is the important factor. The parts and their organization into a
final art product grow out of that idea. On the other hand, the arts are remarkable in their diversity, not only
in the subject matter but also in material and forms. No rules can govern either creation or appreciation. The
artist is influenced by the world around him, so that his work reflects the time and place in which he lives. If
artists or critics do jot set up rules to follow, other critics will prove the rules false.

Arts change as life changes. Authorities in arts state that the work of an artist must be judged
against the background of the time in which he lived.