Humanities Definition

Compared to the excitement I had trying to define revolution, I am more reluctant to define the term “Humanities”. The reason, I believe, is that the word “Humanities” is used in so many contexts with so many different connotations that I doubt I am able to come up with a satisfying definition. But I will give it a shot.

Two major usages of the word “Humanities” is humanities as the name of the human race collectively and humanities as the discipline. The term “humanities”(with a lower case h) can be used in a similar context as Homo Sapiens to summarize the collective identity of our race. Personally, I’m leaning more towards spending more time defining”Humanities”(with an upper case h) as a discipline because I believe discussing”humanities” merely as a name for our race is a bit trivial and even boring as to discussing the marvelous achievements humans have made to reach our current level of living.

So, having said that, what does “Humanities” mean as a discipline? Well, in my opinion, “Humanities” is the study of human development. This definition may sound very similar to the definition of anthropology, which is the study of human societies. But “Humanities” should be a rainbow term that includes anthropology, along with a range of other subjects such as history or political science. The study of human developments means that “Humanities” should be a discipline that includes the study of every aspect of human development, no matter political, biological, societal, technological, or else. Humans have come such a long way since the hunter-gatherer societies and that’s why studying the process of human developments has become such a key issue. In a world where modern technologies are conflicting with the lessons passed down from history, we have to look back to make sure we are staying on the right track as a race.

Looking back at the humes course, I would venture to say that most of the units we covered qualify as “Humanities” for their focus on the study of humans. In the first semester, From the study of John Locke and his Two Treatises in unit 1 to the study of the Scientific Revolution in unit 2, we spent the first half of the semester learning the theoretical and technological foundation of the modern society. In the second half of the semester, we spent time looking at problems such as colonization and slavery that were created by these flawed foundations. In the second semester, we discussed the role dance(performance) is able to play in revolutionizing people’s thinking and action as well as the relationship between art and brain science. We also spent time going over the “Great Purge” in Soviet Russia and the RAF movement in West Germany to think about the role violence has played in the creation of modern politics, especially after the atrocities that the Third Reich had committed during World War II.

Two lectures I enjoyed particularly during the past year were the astronomy lecture and the Rwandan Genocide lecture. During the astronomy lecture, we learned the process by which early modern scientists figured out the nature of planets and stars, a major development in the history of humans. During the Rwandan Genocide lecture, we looked at some horrific pictures from the Rwandan Genocide and discussed the thought process behind our reaction, which is the study of the development of the human mind.