What are the humanities and why should we study them?

When asked about the Humanities, people from different age groups and different educational backgrounds on their perception of the Humanities. When asked to a 12 year school old kid, she told in a confusing manner that it was the study about humans and he had no idea why we should study them. Another 16 year old high school boy simply said that he does not know. For a nineteen year old college student whose intended major is Mechanical Engineering, his perception about the Humanities was a bit more practical. He said that it was the study of arts, love, philosophy, music, etc. To him, he said he had absolutely no idea why we should be even studying Humanities. A sixty five year old high school graduate had a more direct approach at this subject. He said me that Humanities are the non-science and non-commerce subject. That person happens to be a real estate businessman. Just like the college student, he said that there was absolutely no need to study the Humanities. Another sixty three year old pediatrician was more thoughtful about the matter. He said that the Humanities are the study about the Literature, History, Philosophy, Religion, etc. He said that the study of Humanities is important because it helps us, humans, to be able to more effectively communicate with other people from different culture and societies. It helps us to better understand about the world we are in. If we know about the Humanities, we would be in a better world right now. I got almost the equivalent answer from a fifty-three year old female high school instructor.

If we compare the above information with New Hampshire Humanities Council video, the majority of the general public has a shallow understanding about the concept of the Humanities. In general, elderly people seem to have a deeper perception about the Humanities compared to the younger folks.

According to the Minnesota Humanities Council, “Branches of knowledge concerned with human though and culture that includes language, history … interaction and connection” (“What Are The Humanities?” YouTube. YouTube, 4 Nov. 2009.) The reason for their study is due to the fact that, organizations such as Minnesota Humanities Council, works to promote the Humanities different fields. For professor in the Department of Humanities such as David Behling, “humanities humanities include the stories people tell, the art and music they make, the buildings they live and work in... and the list could go on”( Behling, David. "On Studying the Humanities: What Does It Mean to Be Human?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 May 2012.) Behling’s concern on this topic is justified because he wants to clarify the people about the subject he teaches since he often has to come across the subject of the study if the Humanities.

Humanities are the study if “philosophy, history, literature and "soft" sciences like psychology and poly sci” (Horgan, John. "Why Study Humanities? What I Tell Engineering Freshmen."Scientific American Blog Network. N.p., 20 June 2013. Web.) A Professor at the Humanities department at the Stevens University of Technology, Horgan’s goal for the study was to explain to the engineering students on the importance of Humanities and its significance in an individual professional and personal career.

From my experience, Humanities are generally the study of the different forms of arts, philosophy, history, culture, etc. that not only to understand the world we are in, but also help an individual to understand his/her responsibilities. The Humanities classes that I took were, American Humanities, History and Ethics. While I had gained a lot of insight about the people around me from the Ethics class, the History and The American Humanities just gave me a vague description about the things that had happened in the past and how those events helped shape the world we are in now. I did enjoy my Ethics class because I got to view the world that I am leaving in a completely different perspective.

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