One of the most interesting aspects of our society is our cultures. Every country has its unique culture, which serves a significant part of their society. All of them have their differences and similarities, wherein we can see its huge influence on the people.
Understanding the human society and its culture would open up a wide scope of topics. It is because our society rapidly grew over the years, which led to many changes in our culture.
Interestingly, scientists developed ways to study and build knowledge of human society, which helps us gain a deeper understanding of our culture, as well as history. Furthermore, there is a branch of science that deals with the study of human society and culture, which is called humanities.
In this article, we are going to look into the definition of humanities and the various fields of study related to it. Furthermore, how is this branch of science important in understanding our society?
What is Humanities?
As mentioned earlier, humanities are academic disciplines devoted to the study of human society and culture. It includes a wide range of studies, such as ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, history, archaeology, anthropology, human geography, law, politics, religion, and art.
These various fields of study focus on more specific topics related to humanities.
- Anthropology –is the science of the totality of human existence. This field of study is often divided into three broad domains, including natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
- Archaeology –is the branch of science that deals with the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. This field of research includes various archaeological records, which consist of artifacts, architecture, biofacts, and cultural landscapes. Its wide scope of study allows it to be considered as a branch of both social sciences and humanities. It aims to gain a deeper understanding of cultural history, which gives information to document and explain the development of human society over the years.
- Classics –is a field of study that focuses on the cultures of classical antiquity.
- History –is a significant area of study related to humanities. It is the systematically collected information about the past.
- Linguistics – is the scientific study of language. It studies various factors that make up the entirety of the human language.
- Law – is the system of rules created and enforced in social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior. It covers diverse topics, which is essential in our modern world. Some of its definitions describe it as the science and art of justice.
- Literature –is a branch of humanities, which does not have a universally accepted definition. However, we often regard it as the collection of written or oral work. Literature has a variety of forms, which include poetry, fiction, non-fiction, or drama. Some of the most notable people in this field include the English writer William Shakespeare. His works made a significant impact on the development of English literature, wherein he was often considered as the greatest writer in the English language.
- Philosophy –is one of the most diverse forms of study, which originated from ancient times. Many great Greek philosophers made remarkable contributions to its development, which some of it helped in building foundations for several scientific advances. It is generally the study of various problems related to existence, knowledge, justification, truth, justice, right and wrong, beauty, validity, mind, and language. It aims to build knowledge through various methods, such as reasoned arguments; instead of experiments.
- Religion –is one of the most significant parts of our society until today. It has been a part of our culture since prehistoric times, wherein people used to perform rituals. The cultural diversity around the globe also has different beliefs when it comes to religion.
- Performing arts – are forms of art wherein people use their bodies to produce an artistic expression. It includes various fields, such as musicology, theatre, and dance. All of these forms of performing arts also hold a significant part of our modern culture.
- Visual arts –is different from the performing arts. It is a form of art, wherein people use various mediums to express art visually. There are several forms of visual arts, which are still relevant today. The different forms of visual arts include drawing and painting.