Lesson 1 - Humanities and the Arts

“Man is the measure of all things.” – Protagoras

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. The study of humanities may also be
attributed to the symmetry and balance discussed in the art piece known as the Vitruvian Man of
Leonardo da Vinci.

Why Study Humanities?

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 manners indicative of good and proper education.
 Humanities contains the records of man’s quest for answers to the fundamental questions
he asks himself 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.

Fundamental Principles of Humanities

1. Human nature is inherently good.
2. Individuals are free and are capable of making choices.
3. The 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.
The three classical branches of art are painting, sculpture, and architecture.
Nature of the Arts
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.
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.
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 especially when people understand them
Functions of Art
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

Functional Art Forms are those which may benefit the cause of man’s existence. They are art
forms that give people the sustenance to need for life to be better. This benefit is mostly
financial. Functional art 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. Non-functional art forms, on the other hand, Nonfunctional art is art that serves no
utilitarian purpose.

Lesson 2 - Arts and Philosophy

Philosophy and Arts Related
Philosophy is a field of discipline that 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, on the
other hand, 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, 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. It is closely related to aesthetics, the philosophical study of beauty and
taste. In short, one cannot do away with philosophy when explaining an art work.

The Artistic Philosophers

 Plato (428 – 347 BC) is a philosopher of Ancient Greece who is known for his Dialogues
together with Socrates. 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 also
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: 1. Art is imitation; 2. Art is
dangerous.
 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 the
physical manifestation of beauty is affected by SIZE. He considered art as an imitation or
a representation of nature and his emphasis of the art is on POETRY which for him is
more philosophical than Philosophy itself.
 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 in art but in BEAUTY 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.
Artists vs. Artisans
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or
demonstrating art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a
practitioner in the visual arts only. The term is often used in the entertainment business,
especially in a business context, for musicians and other performers (less often for actors).
"Artiste" (the French for artist) is a variant used in English only in this context; this use is
becoming rare.
An artisan (from French: artisan, Italian: artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or
creates things by hand that may be functional or strictly decorative, for example, furniture,
decorative arts, sculptures, clothing, jewelry, food items, household items, and tools or even
mechanisms such as the handmade clockwork movement of a watchmaker.
The Art Forms
The arts refer to the theory, human application, and physical expression of creativity found in
human cultures and societies through skills and imagination to produce objects, environments,
and experiences. Major constituents of the arts include visual arts (including architecture,
ceramics, drawing, filmmaking, painting, photography, and sculpting), literature (including
fiction, drama, poetry, and prose), and performing arts (including dance, music and theater),
culinary arts (including cooking, chocolate making, and winemaking).
1. Architecture. Architecture is an art form that reflects how we present ourselves across the
earth’s landscape, and, like other expressive mediums, it changes with styles,
technologies, and cultural adaptations. Architecture is considered the most functional of
all the art forms.
2. Sculpture, is an artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are worked into three-
dimensional art objects.
3. Painting is the application of pigments to a support surface that establishes an image,
design, or decoration. In art, the term “painting” describes both the act and the result.
Painting media are extremely versatile because they can be applied to many different
surfaces (called supports) including paper, wood, canvas, plaster, clay, lacquer, and
concrete.
4. Dance is the movement of the body in a rhythmic way, usually to music and within a
given space, for the purpose of expressing an idea or emotion, releasing energy, or simply
taking delight in the movement itself.
5. Music is an art form, and cultural activity, whose medium is sound. General definitions
of music include common elements such as pitch (which 19 governs melody and
harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics
(loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (which are
sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound).
6. Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers,
typically actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a
live audience in a specific place, often a stage.
7. Literature, most generically, is anybody or a collection of written work. Literature may be
in any form such as poetry, novel, short story, essay, epic, and legends among others.
 Literature may be oral or written and is also sometimes meant to be performed before an
audience.
Part I. IDENTIFICATION. Directions: Identify the following. Write your answer on
the space provided.
_____________________1. It 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.
_____________________2. It is the philosophical study of beauty and taste, concerned
with the nature of art and used as the basis for interpreting and evaluating individual
works of art.
_____________________3. Whose philosopher explained that the physical world is a
copy of a perfect, rational, eternal and changeless original which he called FORMS?
_____________________4. He stated that physical manifestation of beauty is affected by
SIZE.
_____________________5. A person who exhibits exceptional skills in the visual and/or
the performing arts, more sensitive, very perceptive and more creative.
_____________________6. What constitutes one of the oldest and most important means
of expression developed by man?
_____________________7. He is a person who is involved in skilled trade which
produces things by hand.
_____________________8. It is a three- dimensional art form that is created through
molding, carving, welding, casting and assembling.
_____________________9. What is considered the most functional of all the art forms?
____________________10. What art form uses words to express thoughts, ideas and
feelings?
Part II. TRUE or FALSE. Directions:: Write TRUE if the statement is correct and
FALSE if the statement states an incorrect idea. Write your answers on the space
provided.
____________________1. The fundamental principles of humanities are associated with
beliefs about freedom and that human beings are capable of making significant personal
choices within the constraints imposed by heredity, personal history and environment. 27
____________________2. Art is objective and employs the use of perception, insights,
feelings and intuition.
____________________3. Painting, sculpture, literature, music are examples of
functional art forms.
____________________4. Sculpture is considered as the most functional of all the art
forms.
____________________5. Individuals are free and are capable of making choices.
____________________6. Arts studies how people process and document the human
experience using philosophy, religion and history as their way of understanding and
recording the world.
____________________7. Human potential plays an important role in growth and
development.
____________________8. Artists practice a craft and may through experience and
aptitude reach the expressive levels of an artisan.
____________________9. Non-functional art is generally applied art - art created for
use, not necessarily everyday use, but designed to serve a purpose and with an aesthetic
in mind.
___________________10. Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature
of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art.
___________________11. Music, Dance, Theater and Literature are visual art forms.
__________________12. The Humanities and the Arts use an objective approach in the
study of man and his being.
__________________13. Painting and drawing are two - dimensional art forms.
__________________14. The aim of making the students learn to appreciate the arts is
primarily to get the learner an engaging relationship with a particular art work and for
one to understand the meaning behind an artistic creation.
__________________15. Art is not meant to be looked at only for what it is.
__________________16. Fiction can be further distinguished according to major forms
such as the novel, short story, or drama.
__________________17. Literature as an art form can only be considered performing
arts in nature. 28
__________________18. In art appreciation, an art work must be perceived in the
context of its history.
__________________19. 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.
__________________20. The use of musical instruments in creating music is an example
of visual art.
Part III. ANALYSIS. Directions: Based on the posted artwork of Leonardo da Vinci’s
The Vitruvian Man, answer the questions below. (5 points each)
1. What do you think does the artwork The Vitruvian Man mean to demonstrate?
________________________________________________________________________
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2. Is the Vitruvian Man by Da Vinci truly a commendable piece of art? Explain your
answer.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
3. Does puzzle and mystery in an artwork add interest in the viewers? Clarify your claim.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4. What personal insights have you learned from Da Vinci’s The Viturvian Man? How
can these be applied to your being a learner of Art Appreciation?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Part IV. REFLECTION. Directions: Expound on the following items reflecting on your
learnings from Module 1. The following shall be used in grading your answer: content - 4
points, presentation - 4 points, grammar, and diction - 2 points.
1. Art is universal and timeless.
2.“Man is the measure of all things.” - Protagoras