Unit 1

Humanities and the Arts

Lesson 1 - Humanities and the Arts “Man is the measure of all things.” - Protagoras
What is Humanities?
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance,
the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in
universities at the time. Today, the humanities are more frequently contrasted with natural, and sometimes
social sciences, as well as professional training.
The humanities include the study of ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, history,
archeology, anthropology, human geography, law, politics, religion and art.
Scholars in the humanities are "humanity scholars" or humanists. The term "humanist" also describes the
philosophical position of humanism, which some "anti-humanist" scholars in the humanities reject. The
Renaissance scholars and artists were also called humanists. Some secondary schools offer humanities classes
usually consisting of literature, global studies and art.
Image of the Vitruvian Man
Study of humanities may also be attributed to the symmetry and balance discussed by the art piece known as
the Vitruvian Man of Leonardo da Vinci. This image demonstrates the blend of mathematics and art during
the Renaissance and demonstrates Leonardo's deep understanding of proportions.
This picture represents a cornerstone of Leonardo's attempts to relate man to nature.Encyclopædia Britannica
2 online states, "Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the human body he had produced through his
anatomical drawings and Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the microcosm).
He believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe.”
According to Leonardo's preview in the accompanying text, written in mirror writing, it was made as a study
of the proportions of the (male) human body as described in Vitruvius' De architectura.

Why Study Humanities?

A few of the many reasons why one must engage and be interested in Humanities:
As the word humanities came from the Latin “humanus” which means human, cultured and refined, man is
taught to be as what the term exactly means: being cultured and refined;
Humans have the characteristics of rationality, benevolence and care, he is cultured and refined as shown by
good tastes and manner indicative of good and proper education.
Humanities contains the records of man’s quest for answers to the fundamental questions he asks himself and
about the world we live in
Humanities studies man and the manner in which he conducts himself from the time of his existence to the
present (Martin & Jacobus, 2004)
Humanities is composed of academic disciplines that make it distinctive in both content and method from
the physical and biological sciences and from the social sciences
The study of Humanities is devoted to understanding the different phenomena within the human cultural
contexts Humanities studies how people process and document the human experience using philosophy,
religion, literature, art and history as their way of understanding and recording the world
Humanities studies how individuals’ manner of expression varies as they record human experiences and
how the way of documenting these forms a connection between and among humans of the past, present and
future.

Fundamental Principles of Humanities

The following are identified fundamental principles of Humanities which are used as guides for a better
understanding of life and man’s existence.
1. Human nature is inherently good.
2. Individuals are free and are capable of making choices.
3. Human potential for growth and development is virtually unlimited.
4. Self-concept plays an important role in growth and development.
5. Individuals have an urge for self actualization.
6. Reality is defined by each person.
7. Individuals have a responsibility to both themselves and to others.

Art Explained
Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts (artworks),
expressing the author's imaginative, conceptual ideas, or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their
beauty or emotional power.
Other activities related to the production of works of art include the criticism of art, the study of the history of
art, and the aesthetic dissemination clarification needed of art.
Three classical branches of art are: painting, sculpture and architecture.
Art referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences. General descriptions
mention an idea of imaginative or technical skill stemming from human agency and creation. The nature of
art and related concepts, such as creativity and interpretation, are explored in a branch of philosophy known
as aesthetics.

Nature of the Arts

The following are identified natures of the Arts from the point of view of different artists and philosophers: 1.
Art or arts is of Aryan root “ ar ” which means to join or put together and has its Latin term being “ sars ”
or “artis” which means everything that is artificially made or composed by man (wikipedia).
2. Art constitutes one of the oldest and most important means of expression developed by man.
3. It refers to the skillful arrangement or composition of some common but significant qualities of nature
such as sounds, colors, lines, movements, words, stone and wood to express feelings, thoughts, imaginations
and dreams in an amazing, meaningful and enjoyable way. (Adams, 2002)
4. Art is subjective as it employs the use of perception, insights, feelings and intuition
5. It is the heightened expression of human dignity and weaknesses felt and shared so powerfully in a world
increasingly aware of its successes and failures
6. It is man’s expression of himself as an individual and how he views his existence, and
7. Art also provides enjoyment and stimulation specially when people understand them
Functions of Art
Arts is a much needed avenue for people to:
1. Express freely oneself;
2. Socially express his need for display, celebration and communication; and
3. Physically express the need for utility of functional objects.

The Forms of Art Differentiated

The matrix below shows the difference of the art forms as identified:
Functional art forms (the need for life to be better)
- are those which may benefit the cause of man’s existence.
- is generally applied art - art created for use, not necessarily everyday use, but designed to serve a purpose
and with an aesthetic in mind. It's art that serves a function, but is designed artistically for the purpose of
beauty. They meet a need for use, and are works of art as well.
Ex: Architecture, weaving, furniture-making
non- functional art forms ( the need to express aesthetics and beauty)
- art that serves no utilitarian purpose.
- It is in direct contrast with functional art, which has both an aesthetic value and a utilitarian purpose
Ex: painting, sculpture, literature, music, dance and theater

Activity 1
Directions: Choose an object that you have difficulty in using. Make a plan to change the form of this object
to make it more functional.
Use the following as format of your presentation:
Identify the object. Associate a picture for visualization.
Presentation of the Plan ( in chronological and bulleted form)
Activity1 Discuss the very important takeaways that you have learned from the lessons discussed.
Answer:
Lesson 2 - Arts and Philosophy
Philosophy and Arts Related
Philosophy is a field of discipline which has attempted to explain almost all aspects of human existence.
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason,
mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. The term was
probably coined by Pythagoras.
Art or Aesthetics, is the study of beauty and taste, concerned with the nature of art and used as a basis
for interpreting and evaluating individual works of art. It is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature
of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art. It examines subjective and sensori-emotional values, or
sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste.
Philosophy of art is the study of the nature of art, including concepts such as interpretation, representation
and expression, and form.
One cannot do away with philosophy when explaining an art work. Also, one cannot produce an artwork
without considering the importance of the philosophy behind its production. Example of an art form entitled
“Art is a Friendly Deception” that combines both art and philosophy.

The Artistic Philosophers

Few of the philosophers whose advocacies not only focused on the philosophic ideas but also shared
a few of their conceptions about the Arts.
1. Plato (428 – 347 BC) is a philosopher of Ancient Greece who is known for his Dialogues together with
Socrates. Loved and hated the arts at the same time which makes his philosophical views on art unexplainably
complicated. He believed that “though arts can be used to train citizens to have an ideal society, using arts to
accomplish this should be strictly controlled”. He explained that the physical world is a copy of a perfect,
rational, eternal and changeless original which he called FORMS.
Plato’s Ideas of the Arts may be summed up by the truths according to him that:
1. Art is imitation;
2. Art is dangerous.
Plato samples of Forms or Ideas in other philosophers have called them Universals
- Beauty,
- Justice, and
- The Circle
2. Aristotle ( 384 – 322 BC) was a student of Plato who first distinguished between “what is good and what
is beautiful''. For him, the universal elements of beauty are manifested by order, symmetry and definiteness.
As exemplified in his Poetics, he stated that physical manifestation of beauty is affected by SIZE. He
considered art as imitation or a representation of nature and his emphasis of the art is on POETRY which
for him is more philosophical than Philosophy itself.
Poets imitated the following according to Aristotle:
1. Things and events which have been or still are;
2. Things which are said to be seen and are probable and
3. Things which essentially are.

3. Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) was a German, Enlightenment philosopher who wrote a treatise on
Aesthetics: Observations on the Feelings of the Beautiful and the Sublime. His main interest was not on art
but on BEAUTY that it is a matter of TASTE. Kant explained that TASTE can be both SUBJECTIVE and
UNIVERSAL. For KANT, beauty is a question of form and color is NOT IMPORTANT.
The Kinds of Aesthetic Responses according to Kant are:
1. Beauty results in pleasure if there is order, harmony and symmetry; and
2. Beauty leads to a response of awe that overwhelms the viewers of the art.
Kant’s Philosophy of the Mind as explained through Arts

Activity 2
Directions: Answer the following questions:
1. Why is it necessary for one to have a philosophical perspective on arts?
- Having a philosophical perspective on arts can help you understand the nature, meaning, value
and purpose of art and its relation to human experience. We need to study arts deeper because art
is not just like a typical art that easily disregarded.
2. Identify other philosophers who advocated the arts and compare their ideas with those of the three notable
ones as discussed in this module.
- Confiucius, Aquinas, Socrates - Their ideas in explaining arts and the arts in nature. They
also said that arts is about interpretation and representation

3. Whose perspective of the arts do you adhere to? Why?

- The perspective I adhere is Aristotle philosophy. It said that arts is the representation of
nature and it is more philosophical than it self.He said that it is about inbterpretation and
representation

4. Say something about the artwork “ Art is a Friendly Deception”. Expound your idea by means of giving
relevant examples.
- is that Plato saw the changing physical world as a poor, decaying copy of a perfect, rational, eternal,
and changeless original.