A Few Pointers on Humanities You Should Know

Humanities is one of the most sought-after majors in the world. Historically speaking, it is among the oldest fields of study across the globe and has its relevance only accentuated in the contemporary world. From the University of Oxford to the University of Tokyo, everyone is improving upon their coursework to offer a more insightful perspective into humanities – and why shouldn’t they! Humanities make us understand humans, their environment, thoughts, and motivations. What science cannot determine – which is the qualitative analysis of human society – humanities does that quite effectively.

But, the real question is whether we know humanities the way it should be known. There are indeed many things that a student of humanities is expected to understand. Even if you aren’t a student yet, you should certainly try understanding the more fundamental subjects of your education. In this article, I am going to help you with this with a few pointers on what humanities is.

Read along and you will know what Humanities is all about.

1. What is humanities?
   Of course, the first thing you should know is what humanities is. The main aim of humanities is to assess human civilization from an analytical viewpoint. Basically, the students of humanities are interested in evaluating humans, their society, social norms, beliefs, motivations, history, etc which together define humanity. Whatever the area of interest is, you will have to adopt specific methods of critical study to arrive at your conclusions.

2. Some examples of humanities
   It may happen that you are still unsure of what kind of areas fall within the purview of humanities. To elucidate better, here are a few examples of what is called the subjects of humanities: art history, ethnic studies, drama, music, foreign languages, gender studies, philosophy, comparative literature, and linguistics. Many a time, universities offer combined coursework on these subjects such as mixing the study of drama and music or philosophy and religious studies. But, these examples must have made it clear that humanities investigate humans as social creatures and the attributes that define them. However, note that there may be overlaps between humanities and social sciences in a few areas

3. Most popular options in Humanities
   Since there is a vast range of subjects in Humanities, you may want to know which ones are most popularly opted for. In the United States, for instance, English Language and Comparative Literature are very common among Humanities graduates. To the surprise of may, philosophy is quite popular when though many around us have a misconception that it is a redundant subject (it is not!) so is religious studies. The preferences may change in other countries depending on the local conditions.

4. Top Universities in Humanities
   Well, most universities mentioned here have been historical centers of education in arts and humanities. They have occupied the top places since forever and continue to grow stronger and better. Some of the best universities in humanities include the University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of Cambridge, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, and New York University. While all of these are situated in the west, there are universities in other parts of the world that are inching towards the top spots such as the National University of Singapore, University of Melbourne, University of Tokyo, and Peking University.

5. Humanities vs Social Science
   Even I was confused for quite some time as to the difference between humanities and social sciences. Even many universities still continue to brew confusion. Let me sort it out for you. Both humanities and social science fall within the ambit of liberal arts and investigate humans and their society. However, the method of inquiry and areas of interest differ. For example, social science opts for a more quantitative approach than humanities. Statistical data is very infrequently considered in humanities; instead, humanities delves into a more theoretical domain and bases its findings on interpretation. There are, however, a few subjects that blur the line of difference such as history wherein both quantitative and qualitative methods are used as a result of which many universities regard history as a subject of social science. Also, humanities precede social sciences and have been studied for many centuries.