Name: Rogelio O. Bernaldez Jr.

Course/ Year/ Section: BSOA – 3C

Date: March 10, 2021 Instructor: Lorena P. Tadena

ARTS AND HUMANITIES

ASSIGNMENT

Questions and Answers:

1. What is the root of the humanities?

Answer: Technically, humanities comes from the Latin word “humanus” which means human,
cultured, and refined. It is simply referring to arts, to senses, study of culture related to arts, loosely
defined as cultural subjects, and study of nature as subject of art. It is a way to remind that to be
human is to show the quality like rationality, kindness, and tenderness. When you say cultured it is
about learned in the ways of a civilized society and refined is about showing or having good feelings
or taste. However, it is the study of how humans have expressed themselves through the art
throughout the history. The humanities should not be confused with humanism, a specific
philosophical belief, nor humanitarianism which the concern for charitable works and social reform.
Anyway, it emphasize the dignity of man and recognize creative expressions. Actually, the term
humanities was first applied to the writings of ancient latin authors which were read not only for their
clarity of language and forceful literary style, but also, and more specially, for their moral teaching.
During the Medieval Age, the humanities dealt with the metaphysics of the religion philosopher.
Further, it is a branch of learning which regard with human thought, feelings, and relations. In fact, it
also called “humanitas” which designated those powers or capacities regarded as common to and
most characteristic of human beings as such along with the cultivation of these aspects of human
nature so as to bring into active realization. Apart from these, the word humanities is derived from the
Renaissance Latin expression studia humanitatis meaning humanity involve education, and
specifically an education befitting a cultivated man. In its utilization in the early 15 th century, the studia
humanitatis was a course of studies that consisted of grammar, poetry, rhetoric, history, and moral
philosophy that primarily inferred from the study of Latin and Greek classics as well as it gave rise to
the Renaissance Italian neologism umanisti, whence “humanist”, “Renaissance humanism”. During
the Renaissance, the word came to refer to the set of disciplines which included literature, music,
philosophy, and theology. Besides, it transcends the history of specific humanities discipline by
comparing humanistic traditions in different cultures and civilizations, relating the humanities to the
natural and social sciences, and of course studying developments. Ultimately, 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-5 th century BCE, which prepared young men for active citizenship in the
city-state and literally human nature. Therefore, humanities refers to the quality of being a human,
appreciation must have, so much learned about what it come from, collectively focus on human life,
and provide learning about what exactly humanities is, wherein it is only a word but it has a deep
meaning to know in order to retain in mind and use the knowledge well.

2. Define humanities and arts.

Answer: Apparently, humanities and arts are central to all human cultures throughout time. Their
study can facilitate deeper intercultural understanding and lay the groundwork for a civically engaged
life. Definitely, humanities are define as academic disciplines that study human condition, human
culture, human society, and using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative as
distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences. It is the study of the
history, philosophy, nature, and significance of human modes of expression. Nevertheless, the
humanities are the stories, the ideas, and the words that help us make sense of our lives and our
world. It introduce us to people we have never met, places we have never visited, and thoughts that
may have never crossed our minds. The humanities include ancient and modern languages,
literature, philosophy, religion, fine arts, visual, and performing arts such as music and theatre.
Having humanities, it teaches us how people have created their world, and how they in turn are
created by it. It is a ways thinking about and responding to the world. It also stimulates intellectual
inquiry and seeks answers to the questions of the meaning of human life. In addition, it deals with the
quality of being a human together with study of the innumerable ways in which human beings, from
every period, every corner of the world, process, and document their experiences. Eventually, it
makes us human that bears traits such as the ability to love, have compassion, and be creative as
well. Hence, humanities are about human beings, their intellectual achievements, explore what it
means to be human, usually defined as castigate that look into the expressions of the human mind,
entail the study of the human world, allows one to see things from different perspectives, and it has a
direct impact on life in general. On the other hand, arts is the product or process of deliberately
arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and
intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression
including music, film, literature, photography, sculpture, and paintings. Nonetheless, the meaning of
art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics, whereas disciplines such as
anthropology, sociology, and psychology analyze its relationship with humans and generations.
Usually, arts are considered as part of the humanities wherein these includes visual arts suchlike
painting and sculpture as well as performing arts suchlike theatre, dance, and literature. Veritably,
other humanities such as language are sometimes can be related or part of the arts, for instance, the
language of art. Genuinely, arts creates language that we all understand as it appeals to our minds,
awakens our emotions, and charms our senses. To inform, the term arts is derived from the Latin
“ars” which means the ability or skills and also defined as the process of a skillful making. It is the
result of man’s manipulation of talents and materials. Otherwise, it can also be defined as a way of
telling you feeling or thought in the way you can see it. As a matter of fact, it is the application of
human creative skill and imagination and producing works to be appreciated mainly for their beauty or
emotional power. To remember, the purpose of art is self-expression which shows someone’s feelings
and express through art. Ultimately, art is a creative activity that embody technical skill, can be form
of communication between people, focus on common issues for the betterment of humankind, and
the product of art is called a work of art for others to experience. Hence, arts has been a part of our
life for as long as humanity has existed, something inspired to people, way of expressing oneself,
exhibit skills, makes people optimistic about their future, give importance, and help people in achieve
great things in life. Succinctly, humanities takes into consideration a diverse and oftentimes unrelated
set of disciplines from literature to political history, while, arts is seen as a more all-inclusive field.
Furthermore, arts has its relation to humanities because both decipher the human experience through
words or non-verbal types of articulation. Art and Humanities are more essential than ever to the
endurance of our democratic values of tolerance, pluralism, and freedom also the most established
fields of information that are accessible to man. Therefore, they are fundamental to all human
societies all through time, help us develop critical thinking, understand how people from different
cultures lives with their own values, must be appreciated, and most of all help us to have a better
vision of the past and how world is changing throughout times.

3. What is the importance of humanities?

Answer: Humanities give us better understanding of the world around us but it also provides us on
whom we are as people. Fortunately, the importance of humanities is that it develops our capacity for
critical thinking and appreciation for cultural heritage. It help us recognize fundamental values and
principles such as beauty, truth, love, and faith. It also fosters comprehension across barriers of race,
class, gender, or ethnicity. However, it allows to examine the judiciously, broaden the horizon by
treasuring of various human experiences, respond to the world imaginatively, and cultivate human
moral sensitivity. It is also important because it provide learning about the culture of the past and
present, appreciating works of art, reading literature, and philosophy that will improve crucial analytic
and compositional skills. Even so, it is significant to study for the reason that all of us can understand
the current events, people from foreign countries, and our own thoughts are all aided by some
experience with humanities. Remember, people who can do these things are valuable to many kinds
of institution. By the humanities, it expand our knowledge of human cultures and help us understand
what binds us together and what differentiates us from one another. In humanities, we learn about the
different cultures in the world, about what goes into making a work of art, and about how history is
made. Precisely, it help us grasp the world we live, give us tools to imagine the future, help out to
decide what is relevant in our lives, and what we will do to make better in our life. Moreover,
humanities are important because they deal with great questions of life, point the way to answers
about what is right or what is wrong, or what is true to our heritage and our history. Literally, the value
of the humanities which is vital is that they teach us how humankind through in the past to help guide
our thinking in the future. Finally, humanities teach us empathy, build skills in critical reading,
encourage us to think creatively, shows how disciplines affect with complement one another, teach us
reason about being human, and ask question about the world. Thus, humanities is important because
it will be able to help us understand others through their languages, histories, cultures, nurture social
justice, equality, promotes to understand other people, express our feelings, spend time wisely, have
deep knowledge of various parts of our global community, learn about ourselves, learn appreciate
importance of value, help interpret things better and much more clearly.
 4. What are the scope of humanities?
Answer: Actually, the humanities is many-faceted subject and defined as a group of cultural subjects.
It consists of the visual arts, literature, drama and theatre, music, dance, etc. Now, the scope of
humanities are the following:

 The Visual Arts are those we perceive with our eyes and classified into 2 groups such as
graphic arts and plastic arts. Graphic Arts is the two dimensional surface in which this term
covers any form of visual artistic representation especially painting, drawing, graphic
processes, commercial arts, mechanical processes, and photography. Plastic Arts is the three
dimensional surface in wherein this group includes all fields of visual arts in which organized
into three dimensional forms like architecture, landscape, interior design, sculpture, crafts,
industrial design, city planning, theatre design, dress, and costume design.

 Literature is the art of combining spoken or written words and their meanings into forms which
have artistic and emotional appeal. It includes prose fiction, essay, poetry, miscellaneous, etc.

 Drama and Theatre is a story re-created by actors on a stage in front of an audience.

 Music is an art of arranging sounds in rhythmic succession generally in combination. It

classified into two groups such as vocal music and instrumental music.

 Dance involves the movement of the body and the feet in rhythm. Types of dances are
ethnologic, modern, musical dances, etc.

 Classics are considered one of the cornerstones of the humanities, however their popularity
declined during the 20 th century. It can be understood as including foundational writings from
other major cultures.

 History is systematically collected information about the past. When used as the name of a
field of study, it refers to the study and interpretation of the record of human, societies,
institutions, and any topic that has change over time.

 Languages is the study of individual modern and classical languages forms was the backbone
of modern study of the humanities. The scientific study of language is known as linguistics and
social science, whilst, the study of language is still central of the humanities.

 Anthropology is the study of mankind, in particular the culture in different societies and
backgrounds

 Law means a rule which is capable of enforcement through institutions. The study of law
crosses the boundaries between the social sciences and humanities depending on one’s view
of research into its objectives and effects. It has been defined as a system of rules, as an
interpretive concept, achieve justice, and as an authority.

 Performing Arts differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist’s own body,
face, and presence as a medium. It includes acrobatics, busking, comedy, magic, opera,
juggling, marching arts, and many more that is related to this. This is also a specialized form of
fine arts in which the artists perform their work live to an audience.

 Religion has been extremely powerful influence in human affairs. One cannot understand
human culture without some knowledge of religion. It can be defined as belief in the
supernatural has exerted a profound influence over society throughout history. So, most
historians trace the beginnings of religious belief to the Neolithic Period

 Media Types is generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a
tool, or moving a tool across a surface. For instance, drawing means making an image, using
any wide variety of tools and techniques.
  Painting taken literally is the practice of applying pigment suspended in a career and a binding
agent to a surface such as paper, canvas, or a wall. It is also used to express spiritual motifs
and ideas.

 Archaeology or Archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery, analysis of
material culture and fundamentally study of the human past. It can be considered both a social
science and a branch of the humanities.

 Politics is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions or other forms of
power relations between individuals. It is belong to the humanities which study in order to have
understanding of politics in all forms.

 Human Geography is a branch of humanities that is associated and deals with humans and
their relationships with communities, cultures, and interactions with the environment by
studying their relations.

 Philosophy, etymologically, the love of wisdom – is generally the study of problems

concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, justification, truth, justice, right and wrong,
beauty, validity, mind, and language. It is used to be very comprehensive term including what
have subsequently become separate disciplines, such as physics. It is part of the humanities in
which it gives meaning of life, enhances our ability to explain difficult material, and helps us to
eliminate ambiguities and vagueness.

Therefore, these scope of humanities are the branches of learning that concerned with human
thoughts, feelings, and relations. It is a way to grasp well about humanities, get some knowledge that
will use in the future, awareness of us about what exactly humanities is or how it impact to our lives.
So, let appreciate it, study, and focus.