Humanities and the Arts

This unit shall give you a run through an overview of the Humanities and
the
significance of the Arts as an important aspect of being human. Here,
the basics of art
appreciation shall be discussed which will further enhance the learner’s
orientation on the
significant role of humanities and the arts in one’s culture and the society
in general.

Humanities and the Arts

“Man is the measure of all things.” - Protagoras
What is Humanities?
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human
society
and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and
referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in
universities at the time. Today, the humanities are more frequently
contrasted with natural, and sometimes social sciences, as well as
professional training.
The humanities use methods that are primarily critical, or speculative,
and have a
significant historical element as distinguished from the mainly empirical
approaches of the natural sciences, yet, unlike the sciences, it has no
central discipline. The humanities include the study of ancient and
modern languages, literature, philosophy, history,
archeology, anthropology, human geography, law, politics, religion and
art.
Scholars in the humanities are "humanity scholars" or humanists. The
term "humanist" also describes the philosophical position of humanism,
which some "anti-humanist" scholars in the humanities reject. The
Renaissance scholars and artists were also called humanists. Some
secondary schools offer humanities classes usually consisting of
literature, global studies and art.
Human disciplines like history, folkloristics, and cultural
anthropology study subject
matters that the manipulative experimental method does not apply
to—and instead
mainly use the comparative method and comparative research.
The study of humanities may also be attributed to the symmetry and
balance
discussed by the art piece known as the Vitruvian Man of Leonardo da
Vinci. This image demonstrates the blend of mathematics and art during
the Renaissance and demonstrates Leonardo's deep understanding of
proportions. In addition, this picture represents a cornerstone of
Leonardo's attempts to relate man to nature. Encyclopædia
Britannicaonline states, "Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of
the human body he had produced through his anatomical drawings and
Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the
microcosm). He believed the workings of the human body to be an
analogy for the workings of the universe." According to Leonardo's
preview in the accompanying text, written in mirror writing, it was made
as a study of the proportions of the (male) human body as described in
Vitruvius' De architectura. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanities)
Image of the Vitruvian Man (widewalls.ch/google images)

Why Study Humanities?

A lot of reasons had been associated as to why one must study
Humanities. The
following items are just a few of the many reasons why one must engage
and be
interested in Humanities:
As the word humanities came from the Latin “humanus” which means
human,
cultured and refined, man is taught to be as what the term exactly
means: being cultured and refined;
Humans have the characteristics of rationality, benevolence and care, he
is
cultured and refined as shown by good tastes and manner indicative of
good and proper education