Introduction to Humanities Ask the students, What is Humanities? Why study it?

What are the humanities?

What is the study of Humanities? Humanities is the study of classical languages, literature, philosophy, art, music, culture, and history as distinguished from the natural science. What is/are classical languages? What is literature? What is Philosophy? Why study art, music, culture, and history?

The Humanities Top left to right pictures; Ancient Egyptian classical manuscript, Shakespeare is a well know author of literature, Plato, Socrates & Aristotle are well known Philosophers, and the Mona Lisa is a famous art painting. Bottom left to right; music has evolved over the centuries beginning with a harp and with multiple instruments in a band or orchestra, culture is the way people dress, what they eat, what is socially accepted and much more, and world history is how past has impacted people today. Let’s look at each of these areas more in depth. What is Classical Language?

What are Classical Languages? Classical languages are a language with a literature that is classical; usually ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly from its own; most classical languages are dead languages today. How did early written languages begin?

The Development of Classical Languages in print. Top left: Written languages developed from the cave paintings of early man, Bottom left: then became symbols etched onto tablets or stone, middle and right 2 examples: and finally to an organized form of writing with letters and numbers. Verbal communication also evolved from a formal language to slang and other various forms of contemporary language. Let’s think about literature, what is literature?

What is Literature? Literature is the study of entire body of writings of a specific language, period of time, and people. Name some forms of literature that you have read. Ex.- Shakespeare, Poe,

Examples of Literature. Literature has changed over the centuries; in the early days books were hand written and copied by hand- mainly the Bible, Koran, and other religious books, then philosophers wrote their theories into books, people also started to write down their stories instead of telling them as an oral history, printing began to allow more people to learn to write and read. What is philosophy?

What is Philosophy? Philosophy is the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. Philosophy has five or more types of studies. We will look at a few of them.

Five examples of Philosophy There are five forms of philosophy: Metaphysics Epistemology Logic Ethic Aesthetics As noted earlier there are several different forms of philosophy. Let’s look at metaphysics first. What is metaphysics?

Metaphysics Metaphysics is the study of being. It is the fundamental nature of how and why things exist. Aristotle was a well known metaphysicist. Aristotle is a well known metaphysicist, as Aristotle said, “all men suppose what is called wisdom to deal with the first causes and the principles of things”. He primarily studied science instead of mathematics as other philosophers did. He was a student of Plato, but set out and opened an Academy. Epistemology is another form of philosophy, what is it?

Epistemology Epistemology is the study of how we know things. We use epistemology to decide the limits and boundaries of what can or cannot be known. Socrates' is known for his important and lasting contributions in this form of philosophy. He was a student who also studies under Plato and was a teacher to Alexandra the Great. Alexander the Great came close to conquering the entire civilized world of his day. He was the son of King Phillip II of Macedon, Alexander led his troops at the age 18. After his father's death he took command of the Macedonian army, whipped the superpower Persians, and then went on to conquer much of the civilized world. Ethics is another form of philosophy, what is ethics?

Ethics Ethics is the study of moral standards and how they affect conduct. What does moral standards mean? Knowing right from wrong, give a few examples of this. What is logic?

Logic Logic is the means of which we come to know anything. Aristotle is known for his use of logic. He was concrete, sticks to the facts or known, and practical. He relied upon sensory observations as the beginning for his philosophical reflections. What is aesthetics?

Aesthetics Aesthetics is the study of how and why something can be considered “beautiful” and what value we assign to that beauty. Which of these two pictures would be considered beautiful and explain why? The Mona Lisa is a painting by Leonardo DaVinci is considered one of the most famous and beautiful paintings ever. The other picture is a contemporary painting by. Now that we have looked at two paintings, we need to define art. What is art? Does art consist of paintings only? Explain your answer.

What is Art? Art is the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. What quality, production, or expression do either of the previous paintings have?

Examples of Art Van Gogh’s floral art painting, Statue of Liberty-sculpture, a photograph of the firefighters and the flag after September 11, 2001 are a few examples of the various forms of art. What are other art forms? Another aspect of humanities is culture, what is culture?

What is Culture? Culture is the beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a particular nation or people. Think of the various ethnic groups that live in the United States. What are some of the similarities and differences?

Examples of Culture This is an example of Egyptian foods that are eaten, the types of home, art, and an ancient musical instrument from the Egyptian culture. All of these form the culture of a group of people. Have the students complete a Venn Diagram comparing & contrasting culture of the US and Egypt. The final part of Humanities is the study of history. What is history?

What is History? History is a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating a particular people, country, period, person, etc; usually written as a chronological account. What are some historical events that influenced the history of the US?

Examples of History How did Columbus’ discovery of America impact US history? What impact did the Constitution and Revolutionary War have on US history? What about the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, The Great Depression, and the Inauguration of the first African American President have on American History?

Summary Humanities of the study of classical languages, literature, philosophy, art, music, culture, and history as distinguished from the natural science. Any final comments or questions?

This Course Units we will study: Mesopotamia and the Cradle of Life Ancient Greece Ancient Rome Ancient China Ancient Japan If we end up with time, maybe Medieval Europe and the Renaissance

This Course Each unit will cover the following: History & Geography Literature Philosophy/Religion Art/Architecture/Music Miscellaneous Simulated Experience Test

Oh the Humanities!