What are the humanities and why should we study them?

When asked the question, what is humanities, I received a variety of answers. A 42 year-old registered nurse who had completed her Bachelor’s Degree in nursing replied with, “Humanities is the study of the human experience and how it is recorded through art, music, theatre, and culture.” A 32 year-old business owner who completed her Associate’s in Business said, “Anything to do with humans as a civilization. Such as art, music, and things that separate us from the animal world.” A 19 year-old who completed high school and currently works as a cashier replied with, “Humanities consists of the fine arts, your consciousness, and your individuality.” Through these answers and those of the New Hampshire Humanities Council video I perceive that insufficient information is known by the general public about humanities. People either seem to have a general assumption of what humanities stand for but no in depth understanding or they do not know anything about humanities; very few people can provide an answer which demostrates a thorough comprehension of the humanitites.

As defined by the Minnesota Humanities Council, the humanities are “…branches of knowledge concerned with human thought and culture.” I believe that part of the humanities are culture, customs, works of literature or art, the way every society functions, as well as other aspects which people use to identify themselves with. It is essential to have a slight foundation in humanities in order to gain a complete understanding of humans as a whole and how our mannerisms have been influenced by our actions and creations. “The humanities…give you uncertainty, doubt, and skepticism.” The humanities give us resources that allow us to comprehend which arts and behaviors have shaped us and permits us to question why and how they have shaped us. It is essential to know why we behave the way we do, why our society partakes in some events, and to question why these things happen instead of simply accepting the actions. By demonstrating our comprehension of the humanities we show that we are open-minded and proficient in grasping abstract concepts. “…Science, mathematics and engineering classes, you're given facts, answers, knowledge, truth.” The humanities allows you to contemplate far beyond what more frequented courses: math and science, require you to debate. It allows you to become flexible and gives you an understanding of the world around you instead of living in your own straight forward, personal life. “The humanities are at the core of a Liberal Arts education because they are about understanding how people are active creators of culture, not just passive recipients of tradition” Overall, the humanities are essential to the understanding of yourself as an individual and why the society around you functions the way it does.

In my senior year of high school I took a class labeled “Global Perspectives”. In this class we discussed issues that were prevalent in countries other than our own, in an attempt to broaden our perspective of the world and understand that not everyone has an identical culture or history. The class also attempted to show how our lives, as well as the lives of others, intermingled and affected each other. This class expanded my view of the world; requiring me to research, understand, and formulate solutions to issues in areas that do not seem to be applicable to my personal life and exposed me to a multitude of different cultures, customs, and forms of art and literature. It allowed me to have a minuscule grasp on the human race and that humanity as a whole is not only defined by what I perceive and participate in but also what people from all over the world partake in. I was definitely impressed by how much the class opened my mind and aided me in viewing the world less through rose-tinted glasses, instead I began to understand how humans function within society and what defines us as people. In middle school I partook in a program called People to People; in this program I traveled all across Europe and was immersed in the variety of foods, entertainment, infrastructure, and art that the countries had to offer. At the time I had only known my little town of Homestead, FL and my previous town, Birmingham, AL; being surrounded by all the differences in culture between the United States and Europe was fascinating and eye-opening. At the time I was under the impression that the entire world functioned and had the same culture and customs as the United States. That experience was definitely the start of my understanding that every country and the people who live in it have their individual traits while my Global Perspectives class allowed me to understand exactly what those differences are and expanded my understanding throughout the entire world. These experiences definitely began to sculpt my view of what humanities is and how it affects every individual.

Work Cited:

Behling, David. "On Studying the Humanities: What Does It Mean to Be Human?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Jan. 2012. Web. 06 Jan. 2016.

Horgan, John. "Why Study Humanities? What I Tell Engineering Freshmen." Scientific American Blog Network. Scientific American, 20 June 2013. Web. 06 Jan. 2016.

Minnesota Humanities Center. "What Are The Humanities?" YouTube. YouTube, 04 Nov. 2009. Web. 06 Jan. 2016.

New Hampshire Humanities. "What Are the Humanities?" Youtube. New Hampshire Humanities, 15 Oct. 2010. Web.