Unit 1

Humanities and
the Arts
 Learning Objectives
1. Define Humanities and the Arts
2. Reflect on the contributions of humanities and the
arts to people, culture and society.
3. Relate Arts and Humanities to Philosophy
4. Identify and give meaning to the different art forms
5. Review on the importance of the study of the Arts
and art appreciation
6. Appreciate the contributions of the Arts to oneself.
 Lesson 1
Humanities and 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 humanities are more frequently contrasted with
natural, and sometimes social sciences, as well as
professional training.
→ The humanities use methods that are primarily
critical, or speculative, and have a significant
historical element.
 □ History
□ Law □ Archeology
□ Politics □ Anthropology
□ Religion □ Human
□ Art Geography
□ Literature □ Ancient And
□ Philosophy Modern
Languages
 → Human disciplines like history, folkloristics,
and cultural anthropology study subject matters
that the manipulative experimental method does
not apply to—and instead mainly use the
comparative method and comparative research.
→ 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.
 The 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.
 Why study 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.
 Humanities contains the record of
man’s quest.
Humanities studies man and the manner.
(Martin & Jacobus, 2004)
Humanities is composed of academic
disciplines that make it distinctive in
both content and method.
 Humanities is devoted to understanding the
different phenomena within the human cultural
contexts.
Humanities studies how people process and
document the human experience.

Humanities studies how individuals’

manner of expression varies.
Fundamental Principle of
Humanities
 Human nature is inherently good.

Individuals are free and are capable of

making choices.

Human potential for growth and

development is virtually unlimited.
 Self-concept plays an important role in
growth and development.

Individuals have an urge for self actualization.

Reality is defined by each person.

Individuals have a responsibility to

both themselves and to others.
 Arts Explained...
→ ART is a diverse range of human activities in
creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts
(artworks)

→ Use in 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
* study of the history of art
*aesthetic dissemination clarification needed of
art.
 Three Classical Branches of Art

Painting
Sculpture
Architecture
Broader Definitions of Art
● Music
● Theater
● Film
● Dance and other
performing arts
● Literature and other
media such as
interactive media
 Nature of Arts
The following are identified natures of the Arts
from the point of view of different artist 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
1. Functional Art Forms are those which may benefit the
cause of man’s existence. They are art forms which give
people sustenance as to need for life to be better. This
benefit is mostly financial in nature.

→ 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.
 The Forms of Art
2. Nonfunctional art is art that serves no utilitarian
purpose. It is in direct contrast with functional art, which
has both an aesthetic value and a utilitarian purpose.

→ Nonfunctional art also encompasses paintings, sculptures

and all manner of fine art. These pieces usually seek to
engage with the viewer on an intellectual, emotional or
aesthetic level.
PARISIAN LIFE OBLATION
by Juan Luna by Guillermo Tolentino
 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.
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.
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.
The Artistic
Philosophers
 Plato (428-437 BC)
1. ART IS DANGEROUS
Arts can be used to train
citizens to have an ideal society,
using arts to accomplished this
should be strictly controlled.
2. ART IS IMITATION
Physical world is a copy of a
perfect rational, eternal and
changeless original which he
called FORMS.
• EXAMPLE OF FORMS: Beauty, Justice
and the Circle
• Forms are:
-called universal by other philosophers.
-perfect ideals but they are also more
real than physical objects (the “Really
Real”).
-its world is rational and unchanging
while the world of physical
appearances is changeable and
irrational.
• Ideal World- mind and soul
• Physical world- body and passion
 Aristotle (384-322 BC)
• He distinguished between
“what is good and what is
beautiful”.
• The universal elements of
beauty are manifested by
order, symmetry and
definiteness.
• Poetics- physical
manifestation of beauty is
affected by size
 Poets imitated the following
according to Aristotle:
Things and events which have
been or still are.

Things which are said to be seen and are

probable.

Things which essentially are.

 Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
• He wrote treatise on Aesthetics:
Observations on the Feeling of
the Beautiful and the Sublime.
• His main interest was not on art
but on BEAUTY that is a matter
of TASTE.
• TASTE can be both SUBJECTIVE
and UNIVERSAL.
• Beauty is a question of form
and color is NOT IMPORTANT.
 Kinds of Aesthetic
Responses
Beauty result in pleasure if there is
order, harmony and symmetry.

Beauty leads to a response of awe that

overwhelms the viewers of the art.
Artist vs. Artisan
 Artists
﹡ ARTISTE - French word
for artist
﹡ Create arts that are for
enjoyment and
appreciation
﹡ Makes output to express
the beauty of art it self
﹡ The object has no
functional value

﹡ Creates something
whose value is
aesthetic
 Artisan
• From French: Artisan
Italian: Artigiano

﹡ A skilled craft worker

who creates things by
hand that may be
functional or strictly
decorative.
 Artisanal(adj)
-describing hand-processing in what is usually
viewed an industrial process.

- used in marketing and advertising as a buzz

word to imply the relation with the crafting of
handmade food products.
The Art
Forms
 Whatever form of art one may use in
expressing oneself, what is important is
that his self expression and creativity
explicit.

The following items are the art forms which one may use in
order to express his artistic inclinations:
 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
adapations.

→ Architecture is considered as the most

functional of all the art forms.
Examples of Architectural
Works
 Sculpture
→ An artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are
worked into three-dimensional art objects.

→ An enormous variety of media may be used, including

clay, wax, stone, metal, fabric, glass, wood, plaster,
rubber, and random “found” objects. Materials may be
carved, modeled, molded, cast, wrought, welded, sewn,
assembled, or otherwiseshaped and combined.
Examples of Sculptures
 Painting
→ 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.
Examples of Painting
 Dance
→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.
Examples of Dance
 Music
→ Music is an art form, and cultural activity,
whose medium is sound.

→ General definitions of music include common

elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and the
sonic qualities of timbre and texture.
Examples of Music
 Theater
→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.

→ The performers may communicate this experience to

the audience through combinations of gesture, speech,
song, music, and dance.
Examples of Theater
 Literature
→ Literature, most generically, is any body or collection
of written work.
→ Literature refers to writing considered to be an art
form or any single writing deemed to have artistic or
intellectual value, and sometimes deploys language in
ways that differ from ordinary usage.
→ Literature may be in any form such as poetry, novel,
short story, essay, epic and legends
among others.
Examples of Literature
Appreciating the
Arts
 Here are a few pointers as to how art
appreciation may be applied:
Give a good physical description of the artwork
based on their knowledge of art elements and
materials;

Analyze the artwork in terms of what the artist wants his

work to represent and the learner’s subjective reaction
to the works which includes their thoughts and feelings;
Perceive the art work in the context of its history. This
would enlighten the learners of the artist’s intention
in doing the work and add to the understanding of
the meaning the work is supposed to convey;
 Give meaning to the artwork based on its
description, analysis and context; and

Judge the artwork as to whether it is good or bad

based on the learner’s perception of it and its
aesthetic and cultural value.
 The aim of art is to
represent not the outward
appearance of things but
their inward significance.
-Aristotle
Thank You ❣