The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition through primarily analytical, critical, or speculative methods rather than empirical scientific study. Key humanities subjects include languages, literature, history, philosophy, religion, and visual/performing arts. Some humanities like history are also considered social sciences. The humanities explore fundamental human questions through interpretation of texts, aiming for compelling perspectives rather than scientific consensus. Evidence is based on close reading and discussion of significance rather than experimentation.

2.  Academic disciplines that study the human condition, using
methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as
distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural
sciences.
 The humanities include…
 Ancient and Modern Languages
 Literature
 History
 Philosophy
 Religion
 Visual and Performing Arts
 The humanities that are also regarded
as social sciences include…
 History
 Anthropology
 Area Studies
 Communication Studies
 Cultural Studies
 Law

3.  The word "humanities" is derived from the Renaissance
Latin expression studia humanitatis, or "study of
humanitas” (a classical Latin word meaning
“humanity, culture, refinement, education"
and, specifically, an "education befitting a cultivated
man").
 Early 15th century, the studia
humanitatis was a course of studies
consisting of
grammar, poetry, rhetoric, history
, and moral
philosophy, primarily derived from the
study of Latin and Greek classics.
Plato

4.  The humanities can be traced to ancient Greece, as the
basis of a broad education for citizens.
 During Roman times, the concept of the
seven liberal arts evolved, including…
 Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic (the
Trivium)
 Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy and
Music (the Quadrivium)
 These subjects formed the bulk of
medieval education
 A major shift occurred with the
Renaissance when the humanities began to be regarded as
subjects to be studied rather than practiced, with a
corresponding shift away from the traditional fields into
areas such as literature and history.

5.  Humanities as a field of study deals with questions for
which there are no definitive answers.
 Ex: What is justice? The nature of friendship? The
essence of God? The properties of truth?
 While scholars in this field certainly hope
to address these questions in ways that are compelling
and authoritative, they don't write first
and foremost to establish consensus among
their peers. In other words, they do not
expect to create in their work a
reliable, scientific truth. (Dartmouth)

6.  Purpose - to explore the human condition through
critical analysis of written and visual texts
 Evidence – is textual with
close critical reading and
interpretation of texts
 Pattern of Discourse - a writer makes a claim, supports
that claim with textual evidence, and then discusses
the significance of the passage he has just quoted. This
pattern of claim / textual support / discussion is
repeated again and again until the writer feels that the
argument has been successfully made. (Dartmouth)

7.  Every discipline has a preferred writing style.
 In the Humanities…
 Paragraphs are longer.
 Sentences are longer, too - and
more eloquent.
 Parallel structure is used to
navigate long, complex thoughts.
 Imagery and metaphors are
abundant.
 Active, not passive, voice is most often employed.
 Language and the way it is used in a paper is nearly as
important as that paper's content. (Dartmouth)