a. Humans considered as a group; the human race.
b. Those branches of knowledge, such as philosophy, literature, and art, that are concerned with human thought and culture; the liberal arts.
c. The quality of being human; the peculiar nature of man, by which he is distinguished from other beings.
HISTORY (from Latin, historia)
a. A chronological record of events, as of the life or development of a people or institution, often including an explanation of or commentary on those events.
b. The branch of knowledge that records and analyzes past events.
c. A systematic, written account of events, particularly of those affecting a nation, institution, science, or art, and usually connected with a philosophical explanation of their causes; a true story, a distinguished from a romance; distinguished also from annals, which relate to simple the facts and events of each year, in strict chronological order.
d. The aggregate of past events; the discipline that records and interprets past events involving human beings.
ART (from Old French arte, from Latin artis)
a. Human efforts to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.
b. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movement, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty.
c. The products of human creativity; works of art collectively.
LITERATURE (from Old French, literature; from Latin, litteratura)
a. The body of written works of a language, period, or culture.
b. Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value.
c. The class of writings distinguished for beauty of style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises and works which contain positive knowledge.
SOCIETY (from Middle French, société; from Latin, societas)
a. The totality of social relationships among humans.
b. A group of humans broadly distinguished from other groups by mutual interests, participation in characteristic relationships, shared institutions, and a common culture.
c. The institutions and culture of a distinct self-perpetuating group
d. The persons, collectively considered, who live in any region or at any period; any community of individuals who are united together by a common bond.
CULTURE (from Latin, cultura)
a. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
b. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population.
SUBCULTURE
a. A culture subgroup differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion, or other factors that functionally unify the group and act collectively on each member.
FAMILY (from Latin, familia)
a. A fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children.
b. Two or more people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place.
c. All the members of a household under one roof.
d. A group of persons sharing common ancestry.
e. Those who descend from one common progenitor a tribe, clan, or race; kindred; house; as, the human family.
COMMUNITY (from Middle English and Old French, communite; from Latin, communitas)
a. A group of people living in the same locality and under the dame government.
b. The district or locality in which such a group lives.
c. A group of people having common interests.
d. A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society.
e. Sharing, participation, and fellowship.
f. Society as a whole; the public.
g. A body of people having common rights, privileges, or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and regulations.
SOCIOECONOMIC a. Of or involving both social and economic factors.
FILM (from Old English, filmen)
a. A form of entertainment that enacts a story by a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement.
b. A medium that disseminates moving pictures.
c. A vase of celluloid covered with a photographic emulsion; used to make negatives or transparencies.
RESEARCH FROM:
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company
www.Dictionary.com
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
www.yourdictionary.com
The above definitions are similar in that they are all derived from human behavior. The word HUMANITIES incorporates all of the other words. It is the study of history, art, culture, society, etc., of human beings.
History is the study of people and events from the past. We can learn much about human thought and behavior by examining the history of art, literature and film. People express themselves in these mediums and have since the beginning of time. We can learn many things about intelligence, religion, culture, and society by studying their history.
By studying a specific society, culture, or socioeconomic group, we can gain knowledge about the people it encompasses. A persons culture and socioeconomic standing can tell us a great deal about their education, religious beliefs, wealth, and occupation. A persons culture and socioeconomic position can greatly affect the way a person thinks, acts, and relates to others.
Although these words are similar in they way we examine human nature, lets take into consideration their differences.
Humanities, unlike history does not only relate to the past. It is the study of human behavior both past, and present, and can also help us to predict what may occur in our future. Although there are no lines defining what we may or may not learn by studying each aspect of human beings as they relate in the world, I believe that we can focus on culture, subculture, society, and socioeconomics to learn about peoples intelligence, politics, religion, and human nature. This information may not be so easily obtained through the study of artistic mediums such as literature, art, and film. Through the study of the arts, we can learn more about human relations, emotions, beliefs, thoughts, and traditions.
I am sure this course will make clear to us on how we can learn the most about human nature by studying all of the aforementioned areas.
