![]() | This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
I was always taught that mathematics was one of the humanities. Indeed, this is the conclusion reached by most contemporary philosophers of mathematics. It is certainly not a science or a natural science, because it is not dependent on empirical observation. Its motivations and drives, like the other humanities, cannot be reduced to a desire to understand natural phenomenon, which is the defining characteristic of the sciences. Revolver 00:43, 14 October 2005 (UTC)
Just wondering if perhaps the study of foreign languages and their associated literary tradition (letters) and also the study of language itself (linguistics) should be included here.
Arcan 10:34, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
Linguistics is universally regarded as a social science. I'm going to remove the linguistics reference. cdworetzky 08:40, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
The study of languages at university level is within the scope of "philology". Philology comes under literature as a humanities subject.
Suggestioned:
Here's an an excerpt from the Britannica article for inspiration:
"The modern conception of the humanities has its origin in the classical Greek paideia, a course of general education dating from the sophists in the mid-5th century BC, which prepared young men for active citizenship in the polis, or city-state; and in Cicero's humanitas (literally, “human nature”), a program of training proper for orators, first set forth in De Oratore (Of the Orator) in 55 BC. In the early Middle Ages the Church Fathers, including St. Augustine, himself a rhetorician, adapted paideia and humanitas—or the bonae (“good”), or liberales (“liberal”), arts, as they were also called—to a program of basic Christian education; mathematics, linguistic and philological studies, and some history, philosophy, and science were included.
The word humanitas, although not the substance of its component disciplines, dropped out of common use in the later Middle Ages but underwent a flowering and a transformation in the Renaissance. The term studia humanitatis (“studies of humanity”) was used by 15th-century Italian humanists to denote secular literary and scholarly activities (in grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, moral philosophy, and ancient Greek and Latin studies) that the humanists thought to be essentially humane and classical studies rather than divine ones. In the 18th century, Denis Diderot and the French Encyclopédistes censured studia humanitatis for what they claimed had by then become its dry, exclusive concentration on Latin and Greek texts and language. By the 19th century, when the purview of the humanities expanded, the humanities had begun to take their identity not so much from their separation from the realm of the divine as from their exclusion of the material and methods of the maturing physical sciences, which tended to examine the world "
What else?
Lotsofissues 21:42, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
The French page seems to have a lot of material on it, could that be a source of ideas? (My French is pretty pauvre, je regrette) Walkerma 01:13, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
I organised the page loosely as suggested above, with some added sections I thought appropriate. I have written some sections as best I could (I'm a chemist by training!), but the books I have are very much focused on the US. I would encourage those who work in this field to edit my attempts, which (being based on reading books) may miss the point at times. I will try to add a graph later to show changes in the humanities, and I may add a section on the concern about the effect of computers. Walkerma 07:58, 15 January 2006 (UTC)
History, Geography and Business & Economics are classed as Humanities. — Wackymacs 18:03, 10 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm a chemist so it's a struggle for me to work on this, but I am working through four books on the subject. However all of the views in these books cover the humanities in Europe or the US. I see someone has just tagged this article as "not representing a worldwide view" so I am not the only one concerned about this. Is there someone who could provide a perspective of the humanities from (say) China or the Arab world (both of which have articles on the Humanities)? Also, in the French article the last sentence is "Les situations « officielles » des disciplines sont différentes selon les pays de la francophonie en particulier." This means (I think) "The official organisation of disciplines is different in French-speaking countries in particular." So we should get the Francophone view also. Walkerma 18:28, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
The ¨Humanities today¨ section is specially problematic because it only shows the US POV-- Andres rojas22 20:55, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
These points above are well-taken, especially the US-centric part -- we need more European (and for that matter, Middle Eastern) representation, especially speaking to the eras when those cultures carried the Humanities along for several centuries (say 11th-18th centuries). Still, I'm not sure how appropriate it is to talk about a "worldwide view" on something that is a distinctively *Western* dichotomy -- historically it's not an Eastern idea (i.e., looking previous to the 20th century, before the East was strongly influenced by Western thinking) to divide empirical sciences from critical/speculative ones, as though they belong in completely separate buckets.
In other words, the decision to group several disciplines together, and to consider them a major division of Academia, and to give them the name "Humanties," was all a Western invention. To push this categorization and labeling onto all the other cultures, rather than being an exercise in open-mindedness, might be more of an intellectual imperialism. -- Tim Musgrove
Although some aspects of philosophy concern the "human condition" (eg. epistemology), *many* do not. I had always considered it a social science. If philosophy were to be included then surely sociology/psychology should also - they are as concerned with the "human condition" as epistemology. Any thoughts on this? -- Oldak Quill 21:29, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
The current intro sentence for this article is horrible:
"The humanities are a 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."
What the heck does that mean? Try comparing it with Encyclopedia Britannica's intro:
"The humanities are those branches of knowledge that concern themselves with human beings and their culture or with analytic and critical methods of inquiry derived from an appreciation of human values and of the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself."
Can we come up with something better? Kaldari 02:43, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
This sentence was rewritten but contains one serious flaw: the humanities do not 'study' the human condition (that would be 'humanology'), rather the humanities 'cultivate' human character. The word 'humanities' derives from the Latin 'humanitas' which the Lewis and Scott Latin Lexicon defines as "humane or gentle conduct" and "mental cultivation befitting a man, liberal education, ...". It is this sense which Martha Nussbaum employs in her book 'Cultivating Humanity' (which is cited as a source in this Wikipedia article). A more broad sense of 'humanitas' is employed idiosyncratically by Cicero in several ways. I therefore suggest a change in the the opening sentence to read something like "The humanities are those intellectual and practical disciplines that seek to cultivate in each individual the essential characteristics that define human nature".
86.162.163.82 (
talk)
17:19, 17 March 2009 (UTC)
Is there any opposition to having one or more sections for various branches, such as art, history, etc? Maurreen 04:18, 18 March 2006 (UTC)
"The humanities will have to adapt rapidly to these changes if they are to remain relevant."
That statement, from "Humanities in the digital age" is just wrong. The Humanities cannot become irrelevent anymore than math or the social sciences. The term "Humanities" refers to the very field of study that is the human of humanity, it can never become irrelevent. As long as there are humans the field will be relevent, regardless of whether or not it remains a wide spread field of human interest.-- Shadowlance 22:32, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
I've cut the following paragraph until a source can be provided:
The link to the astrology article appeared to contain a reference, but in fact its "external" link pointed to the same assertion on an out-of-date Wikipedia mirror, hardly an appropriate reference. If the correspondence between the Zodiac and the liberal arts indeed historically existed (I'm not even sure what "originally" is supposed to mean here), a source shouldn't be too hard to find. -- Rbellin| Talk 23:10, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
Sorokin seems like an interesting person, but his unlinked picture unexplained in the text (apparently illustrating post-modern thinkers) seems very disproportionate when only Plato and Shakespeare are shown above.-- jb 15:48, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
I think humanities should have a Portal. PianoKeys 19:55, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
For those of you who do not know, over the past several weeks people have been rewriting the WP:NOR policy. Several people who are most active have background in the natural sciences. Nothing wrong with this, but people in the physical and life sciences talk about and use sources differently from people in the humanities. Obviously the policy needs to be informed by and applicable to both groups. I hope anyone who has this page on their watchilist will review the discussion at Wikipedia talk:No original research and comment on various proposals. Slrubenstein | Talk 09:48, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
Hi! Just a question. Do english people consider arts (such arts as music, theatre, cinema etc.) as sciences? My interest arose because in Slavic countries (Ukraine, Russia and other...) the arts are not sciences as any art is considered to work with artistic characters that any science never do. This way for example we consider the musicology as a scince but never consider music as a science. Do english people think in a different way? -- A4 09:06, 6 October 2007 (UTC)
Image:PF 916002~Puccini-Turandot-Posters.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot ( talk) 14:46, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
What is the alternative term/name used for scholars working in the Humanities besides the only partially accepted "Humanist?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Carlon ( talk • contribs) 02:48, 13 August 2008 (UTC)
The opening paragraph:
The humanities are academic disciplines which study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural and social sciences.
The links to "analytic", "critical", and "speculative" are all disambiguation pages. This helps explain things not at all. I'm not sure what is meant here. That the methods are primarily a priori? Can someone clarify? 75.15.113.37 ( talk) 19:44, 15 April 2009 (UTC)
in about 10years ago, many people in the world have discover many things that contribute to the development of their mother country. It is essential to all people because of this things can be a great invention that never seen before. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 120.28.166.71 ( talk) 02:45, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
The Humane studies, According to Cicero:
Rationale for humane studies (letters)
"Si ex his studiis delectatio sola peteretur, tamen, ut opinor, hanc animi remissionem humanissimam ac liberalissimam iudicaretis. Nam ceterae neque temporum sunt neque aetatum omnium neque locorum; at haec studia adulescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, res secundas ornant, adversis perfugium ac solacium praebent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur."
"Even if mere entertainment were our only objective in the study of literature, you would still, in my opinion, regard this pursuit as the most humanizing and liberating of intellectual activities. For no other pursuit is appropriate to all times, all ages, all situations; but this study nurtures our youth, delights our old age, brightens the good times, and provides a refuge and comfort in bad times; literature brings us pleasure at home, does not hamper us at work, and is the companion of our nights, our travels, our country retreats.": --Cicero, Pro Archia Archia Poeta 7.16):
Cicero speaks elsewhere, in his treatises De Officiis and De Republica, on the ethics of war, acknowledging that war is sometimes inevitable but that the first recourse in international conflict resolution should always be to negotiation rather than to violence, cum illud proprium sit hominis, hoc belvarum ("since the one course of action is appropriate to humankind, the other to beasts," De Off. 1.11.34). [1]
In the Middle Ages, law students studied rhetoric, or the art of persuasion, as an essential technique of their profession. In the Renaissance, however, beginning with Petrarch (c. 1310-1380) there was a movement to focus on the philosophical purpose of persuasion, which was to lead men to wisdom (virtue). The humanists looked to Cicero and other Latin authors as their guides, both stylistic and philosophical. Teachers of rhetoric, called dictatores, began also to write treatises on government. They also called into question more traditional Medieval educational programs, which had become a very theoretical and technical study devoted to the fine points of Aristotelean logic and syllogisms, and which featured incorrect and sloppy Latin.
The subjects of the studia humanitatis of classical tradition are: Poetry (see above); Rhetoric (developing a polished style), History (which teaches prudence, one of the most important political virtues), and ancient Moral and Political Philosophy. See Quentin Skinner, Visions of Politics, Vol. III: Renaissance Virtues (Cambridge University Press, [2002] 2007), p. 2. The virtues essential for the citizens and leaders of a well ordered commonwealth comprise: Prudence, Fortitude (courage), Temperance, and Justice (to which Magnanimity, a Stoic, or Senecan virtue, was sometimes added). See Skinner, p. 96. The Heavenly virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity were above, but did not supersede these. Rather they completed them. In the Renaissance it was thought that virtue rather than birth constituted true nobility.
Humanistic study of ancient texts used comparative analysis, and achieved great things. Comparing the style of one textual copy to another of the same work, for example, they could detect inconsistencies and error. Comparing texts of different authors, they learned to identify different styles and periods. The continued use of this form of analysis eventually (very slowly) led to a new way of viewing history as embodying to continuous change and development, of languages, works of art and literature, as well as of institution. This kind of thinking gradually undermined the former view of humanity and its works as uniform and unchanging. It is not the same as experimental science, but it is a kind of thinking essential to any kind of rational knowledge. 173.56.164.199 ( talk) 06:08, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
Welcome to Wikipedia! I am glad to see you are interested in discussing a topic. However, as a general rule, talk pages such as Talk:Humanities are for discussion related to improving the article, not general discussion about the topic. If you have specific questions about certain topics, consider visiting our reference desk and asking them there instead of on article talk pages. Thank you. --
The mention that bioengineers would want to make human-animal hybrids appears more like science fiction than reality to me (last paragraph in last section, 3.3.4). Maybe a reference would be appropriate for this or else change the way it is written. It is true that genetic engineering is used to introduce human genes in animals (generally for research purpose). However, "human-animal hybrids" sounds more like a human with lizard scales or eagle eyes... or other strange "Frankenstein-like" creations. I understand this article is not about bioengineering, but this sentence looks misleading to me. Jonatp ( talk) 04:43, 15 May 2009 (UTC)
I've put an Internationalisation flag on this article, because the definition given of Humanities seems to be the North American one. In N.A. and European English, the term is used (as defined) to mean subjects relating to the human condition. However, in British English, it refers to humanising subjects : those that make use into humans. Perhaps this is a subtle distinction in many cases, but linguistics and theology, for example, wouldn't be included under this heading in a UK context. The corresponding term in British English would be "Humanistics". Neuralwarp ( talk) 17:00, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
The last sentence of the introduction, "However, that term also describes the philosophical position of humanism, which some "antihumanist" scholars in the humanities reject," might better be modified to "scholars in the humanities [may] reject," but that could be {or}. In the current case, however, it is a {cn} for sure. Twipley ( talk) 17:09, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
Would any editor be interested in a Template:Humanities ? I just noticed that some of the humanities are being listed in the Template:Science. If so, might you all suggest an image or logo for use in such a template? Thank you, -- Ancheta Wis ( talk) 10:17, 26 September 2010 (UTC)
I have just prototyped a template, listed above. In one week I propose to add it to the article page, if no one objects. You are welcome to suggest changes to this template, and also to be bold by changing this template yourself. -- Ancheta Wis ( talk) 15:22, 26 September 2010 (UTC)
I'd like to either cut praexeology or move it to a larger discussion of economics. As it is, praexeology is basically a term only used by Mises and his followers, so it seems like undue weight. Ethan Mitchell ( talk) 12:28, 2 September 2012 (UTC)
Somehow i miss archeology.-- Kmhkmh ( talk) 17:49, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
I see no mention of Sculpture here, though it is listed as both a visual art and a plastic art under the Sculpture article. Just made me wonder, thanks. TheLastWordSword ( talk) 20:22, 19 November 2013 (UTC)
![]() | This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
I was always taught that mathematics was one of the humanities. Indeed, this is the conclusion reached by most contemporary philosophers of mathematics. It is certainly not a science or a natural science, because it is not dependent on empirical observation. Its motivations and drives, like the other humanities, cannot be reduced to a desire to understand natural phenomenon, which is the defining characteristic of the sciences. Revolver 00:43, 14 October 2005 (UTC)
Just wondering if perhaps the study of foreign languages and their associated literary tradition (letters) and also the study of language itself (linguistics) should be included here.
Arcan 10:34, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
Linguistics is universally regarded as a social science. I'm going to remove the linguistics reference. cdworetzky 08:40, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
The study of languages at university level is within the scope of "philology". Philology comes under literature as a humanities subject.
Suggestioned:
Here's an an excerpt from the Britannica article for inspiration:
"The modern conception of the humanities has its origin in the classical Greek paideia, a course of general education dating from the sophists in the mid-5th century BC, which prepared young men for active citizenship in the polis, or city-state; and in Cicero's humanitas (literally, “human nature”), a program of training proper for orators, first set forth in De Oratore (Of the Orator) in 55 BC. In the early Middle Ages the Church Fathers, including St. Augustine, himself a rhetorician, adapted paideia and humanitas—or the bonae (“good”), or liberales (“liberal”), arts, as they were also called—to a program of basic Christian education; mathematics, linguistic and philological studies, and some history, philosophy, and science were included.
The word humanitas, although not the substance of its component disciplines, dropped out of common use in the later Middle Ages but underwent a flowering and a transformation in the Renaissance. The term studia humanitatis (“studies of humanity”) was used by 15th-century Italian humanists to denote secular literary and scholarly activities (in grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, moral philosophy, and ancient Greek and Latin studies) that the humanists thought to be essentially humane and classical studies rather than divine ones. In the 18th century, Denis Diderot and the French Encyclopédistes censured studia humanitatis for what they claimed had by then become its dry, exclusive concentration on Latin and Greek texts and language. By the 19th century, when the purview of the humanities expanded, the humanities had begun to take their identity not so much from their separation from the realm of the divine as from their exclusion of the material and methods of the maturing physical sciences, which tended to examine the world "
What else?
Lotsofissues 21:42, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
The French page seems to have a lot of material on it, could that be a source of ideas? (My French is pretty pauvre, je regrette) Walkerma 01:13, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
I organised the page loosely as suggested above, with some added sections I thought appropriate. I have written some sections as best I could (I'm a chemist by training!), but the books I have are very much focused on the US. I would encourage those who work in this field to edit my attempts, which (being based on reading books) may miss the point at times. I will try to add a graph later to show changes in the humanities, and I may add a section on the concern about the effect of computers. Walkerma 07:58, 15 January 2006 (UTC)
History, Geography and Business & Economics are classed as Humanities. — Wackymacs 18:03, 10 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm a chemist so it's a struggle for me to work on this, but I am working through four books on the subject. However all of the views in these books cover the humanities in Europe or the US. I see someone has just tagged this article as "not representing a worldwide view" so I am not the only one concerned about this. Is there someone who could provide a perspective of the humanities from (say) China or the Arab world (both of which have articles on the Humanities)? Also, in the French article the last sentence is "Les situations « officielles » des disciplines sont différentes selon les pays de la francophonie en particulier." This means (I think) "The official organisation of disciplines is different in French-speaking countries in particular." So we should get the Francophone view also. Walkerma 18:28, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
The ¨Humanities today¨ section is specially problematic because it only shows the US POV-- Andres rojas22 20:55, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
These points above are well-taken, especially the US-centric part -- we need more European (and for that matter, Middle Eastern) representation, especially speaking to the eras when those cultures carried the Humanities along for several centuries (say 11th-18th centuries). Still, I'm not sure how appropriate it is to talk about a "worldwide view" on something that is a distinctively *Western* dichotomy -- historically it's not an Eastern idea (i.e., looking previous to the 20th century, before the East was strongly influenced by Western thinking) to divide empirical sciences from critical/speculative ones, as though they belong in completely separate buckets.
In other words, the decision to group several disciplines together, and to consider them a major division of Academia, and to give them the name "Humanties," was all a Western invention. To push this categorization and labeling onto all the other cultures, rather than being an exercise in open-mindedness, might be more of an intellectual imperialism. -- Tim Musgrove
Although some aspects of philosophy concern the "human condition" (eg. epistemology), *many* do not. I had always considered it a social science. If philosophy were to be included then surely sociology/psychology should also - they are as concerned with the "human condition" as epistemology. Any thoughts on this? -- Oldak Quill 21:29, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
The current intro sentence for this article is horrible:
"The humanities are a 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."
What the heck does that mean? Try comparing it with Encyclopedia Britannica's intro:
"The humanities are those branches of knowledge that concern themselves with human beings and their culture or with analytic and critical methods of inquiry derived from an appreciation of human values and of the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself."
Can we come up with something better? Kaldari 02:43, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
This sentence was rewritten but contains one serious flaw: the humanities do not 'study' the human condition (that would be 'humanology'), rather the humanities 'cultivate' human character. The word 'humanities' derives from the Latin 'humanitas' which the Lewis and Scott Latin Lexicon defines as "humane or gentle conduct" and "mental cultivation befitting a man, liberal education, ...". It is this sense which Martha Nussbaum employs in her book 'Cultivating Humanity' (which is cited as a source in this Wikipedia article). A more broad sense of 'humanitas' is employed idiosyncratically by Cicero in several ways. I therefore suggest a change in the the opening sentence to read something like "The humanities are those intellectual and practical disciplines that seek to cultivate in each individual the essential characteristics that define human nature".
86.162.163.82 (
talk)
17:19, 17 March 2009 (UTC)
Is there any opposition to having one or more sections for various branches, such as art, history, etc? Maurreen 04:18, 18 March 2006 (UTC)
"The humanities will have to adapt rapidly to these changes if they are to remain relevant."
That statement, from "Humanities in the digital age" is just wrong. The Humanities cannot become irrelevent anymore than math or the social sciences. The term "Humanities" refers to the very field of study that is the human of humanity, it can never become irrelevent. As long as there are humans the field will be relevent, regardless of whether or not it remains a wide spread field of human interest.-- Shadowlance 22:32, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
I've cut the following paragraph until a source can be provided:
The link to the astrology article appeared to contain a reference, but in fact its "external" link pointed to the same assertion on an out-of-date Wikipedia mirror, hardly an appropriate reference. If the correspondence between the Zodiac and the liberal arts indeed historically existed (I'm not even sure what "originally" is supposed to mean here), a source shouldn't be too hard to find. -- Rbellin| Talk 23:10, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
Sorokin seems like an interesting person, but his unlinked picture unexplained in the text (apparently illustrating post-modern thinkers) seems very disproportionate when only Plato and Shakespeare are shown above.-- jb 15:48, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
I think humanities should have a Portal. PianoKeys 19:55, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
For those of you who do not know, over the past several weeks people have been rewriting the WP:NOR policy. Several people who are most active have background in the natural sciences. Nothing wrong with this, but people in the physical and life sciences talk about and use sources differently from people in the humanities. Obviously the policy needs to be informed by and applicable to both groups. I hope anyone who has this page on their watchilist will review the discussion at Wikipedia talk:No original research and comment on various proposals. Slrubenstein | Talk 09:48, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
Hi! Just a question. Do english people consider arts (such arts as music, theatre, cinema etc.) as sciences? My interest arose because in Slavic countries (Ukraine, Russia and other...) the arts are not sciences as any art is considered to work with artistic characters that any science never do. This way for example we consider the musicology as a scince but never consider music as a science. Do english people think in a different way? -- A4 09:06, 6 October 2007 (UTC)
Image:PF 916002~Puccini-Turandot-Posters.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot ( talk) 14:46, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
What is the alternative term/name used for scholars working in the Humanities besides the only partially accepted "Humanist?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Carlon ( talk • contribs) 02:48, 13 August 2008 (UTC)
The opening paragraph:
The humanities are academic disciplines which study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural and social sciences.
The links to "analytic", "critical", and "speculative" are all disambiguation pages. This helps explain things not at all. I'm not sure what is meant here. That the methods are primarily a priori? Can someone clarify? 75.15.113.37 ( talk) 19:44, 15 April 2009 (UTC)
in about 10years ago, many people in the world have discover many things that contribute to the development of their mother country. It is essential to all people because of this things can be a great invention that never seen before. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 120.28.166.71 ( talk) 02:45, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
The Humane studies, According to Cicero:
Rationale for humane studies (letters)
"Si ex his studiis delectatio sola peteretur, tamen, ut opinor, hanc animi remissionem humanissimam ac liberalissimam iudicaretis. Nam ceterae neque temporum sunt neque aetatum omnium neque locorum; at haec studia adulescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, res secundas ornant, adversis perfugium ac solacium praebent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur."
"Even if mere entertainment were our only objective in the study of literature, you would still, in my opinion, regard this pursuit as the most humanizing and liberating of intellectual activities. For no other pursuit is appropriate to all times, all ages, all situations; but this study nurtures our youth, delights our old age, brightens the good times, and provides a refuge and comfort in bad times; literature brings us pleasure at home, does not hamper us at work, and is the companion of our nights, our travels, our country retreats.": --Cicero, Pro Archia Archia Poeta 7.16):
Cicero speaks elsewhere, in his treatises De Officiis and De Republica, on the ethics of war, acknowledging that war is sometimes inevitable but that the first recourse in international conflict resolution should always be to negotiation rather than to violence, cum illud proprium sit hominis, hoc belvarum ("since the one course of action is appropriate to humankind, the other to beasts," De Off. 1.11.34). [1]
In the Middle Ages, law students studied rhetoric, or the art of persuasion, as an essential technique of their profession. In the Renaissance, however, beginning with Petrarch (c. 1310-1380) there was a movement to focus on the philosophical purpose of persuasion, which was to lead men to wisdom (virtue). The humanists looked to Cicero and other Latin authors as their guides, both stylistic and philosophical. Teachers of rhetoric, called dictatores, began also to write treatises on government. They also called into question more traditional Medieval educational programs, which had become a very theoretical and technical study devoted to the fine points of Aristotelean logic and syllogisms, and which featured incorrect and sloppy Latin.
The subjects of the studia humanitatis of classical tradition are: Poetry (see above); Rhetoric (developing a polished style), History (which teaches prudence, one of the most important political virtues), and ancient Moral and Political Philosophy. See Quentin Skinner, Visions of Politics, Vol. III: Renaissance Virtues (Cambridge University Press, [2002] 2007), p. 2. The virtues essential for the citizens and leaders of a well ordered commonwealth comprise: Prudence, Fortitude (courage), Temperance, and Justice (to which Magnanimity, a Stoic, or Senecan virtue, was sometimes added). See Skinner, p. 96. The Heavenly virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity were above, but did not supersede these. Rather they completed them. In the Renaissance it was thought that virtue rather than birth constituted true nobility.
Humanistic study of ancient texts used comparative analysis, and achieved great things. Comparing the style of one textual copy to another of the same work, for example, they could detect inconsistencies and error. Comparing texts of different authors, they learned to identify different styles and periods. The continued use of this form of analysis eventually (very slowly) led to a new way of viewing history as embodying to continuous change and development, of languages, works of art and literature, as well as of institution. This kind of thinking gradually undermined the former view of humanity and its works as uniform and unchanging. It is not the same as experimental science, but it is a kind of thinking essential to any kind of rational knowledge. 173.56.164.199 ( talk) 06:08, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
Welcome to Wikipedia! I am glad to see you are interested in discussing a topic. However, as a general rule, talk pages such as Talk:Humanities are for discussion related to improving the article, not general discussion about the topic. If you have specific questions about certain topics, consider visiting our reference desk and asking them there instead of on article talk pages. Thank you. --
The mention that bioengineers would want to make human-animal hybrids appears more like science fiction than reality to me (last paragraph in last section, 3.3.4). Maybe a reference would be appropriate for this or else change the way it is written. It is true that genetic engineering is used to introduce human genes in animals (generally for research purpose). However, "human-animal hybrids" sounds more like a human with lizard scales or eagle eyes... or other strange "Frankenstein-like" creations. I understand this article is not about bioengineering, but this sentence looks misleading to me. Jonatp ( talk) 04:43, 15 May 2009 (UTC)
I've put an Internationalisation flag on this article, because the definition given of Humanities seems to be the North American one. In N.A. and European English, the term is used (as defined) to mean subjects relating to the human condition. However, in British English, it refers to humanising subjects : those that make use into humans. Perhaps this is a subtle distinction in many cases, but linguistics and theology, for example, wouldn't be included under this heading in a UK context. The corresponding term in British English would be "Humanistics". Neuralwarp ( talk) 17:00, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
The last sentence of the introduction, "However, that term also describes the philosophical position of humanism, which some "antihumanist" scholars in the humanities reject," might better be modified to "scholars in the humanities [may] reject," but that could be {or}. In the current case, however, it is a {cn} for sure. Twipley ( talk) 17:09, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
Would any editor be interested in a Template:Humanities ? I just noticed that some of the humanities are being listed in the Template:Science. If so, might you all suggest an image or logo for use in such a template? Thank you, -- Ancheta Wis ( talk) 10:17, 26 September 2010 (UTC)
I have just prototyped a template, listed above. In one week I propose to add it to the article page, if no one objects. You are welcome to suggest changes to this template, and also to be bold by changing this template yourself. -- Ancheta Wis ( talk) 15:22, 26 September 2010 (UTC)
I'd like to either cut praexeology or move it to a larger discussion of economics. As it is, praexeology is basically a term only used by Mises and his followers, so it seems like undue weight. Ethan Mitchell ( talk) 12:28, 2 September 2012 (UTC)
Somehow i miss archeology.-- Kmhkmh ( talk) 17:49, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
I see no mention of Sculpture here, though it is listed as both a visual art and a plastic art under the Sculpture article. Just made me wonder, thanks. TheLastWordSword ( talk) 20:22, 19 November 2013 (UTC)