Meaning of life Essay Example for Free

Meaning of life Essay The humanities are academic disciplines which study the human condition, using methods that are largely analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural and social sciences. The humanities, such as classical and modern languages, literature, history, and philosophy, have the overall goal of the exploration and explanation of human experience. Some would include the fine arts (music, art, dance, and drama) in the humanities, but others view the arts as a separate category. (We include the interpretation of the fine arts in this course). In most disciplines in the humanities, written texts are extremely important, especially in history, philosophy, and literature. Historians attempt a systematic documentation and analysis of events related to a particular people, country, or period. Literary authors and artists attempt to capture for others their own human experiences and understanding of the world. The humanities involve inquiry into consciousness, values, ideas, and ideals as they seek to describe how experiences shape our understanding of the world. Humanities can be defined as educational courses that are aimed at teaching individuals about the human condition in a variety of forms. Important of Humanities The importance of humanities is that it is an academic discipline that studies the human condition, it includes ancient and modern languages, such as literature, philosophy, religion, and visual and performing arts such as music and theater, and it is also regarded as social sciences that include history, anthropology, area studies, communication studies, cultural studies, law, economics, and linguistics. All these subjects affect us a humans and has an effect on our historical development as well as where we are headed to. Humanities is the oldest area of study that revolves around the study of human beings, what makes us human, and our historical development and what we are expected to do. Significant use of humanities is that they help us to build up what we have inherited from previous generations. It is important we understand that all that we are today has taken centuries to build and us a society we have indeed been molded by our past. It is through this understanding that makes us not want to go back to  question our origin but build on our present to face the future. The other importance of humanities is that they help us as human being to reflect back on how the past generations tackled issues that are facing us currently. As opposed to the natural sciences that focus on quantitative explanations as well description of life events, humanities explicitly focus on explanations of value. Humanities are liken to arts but it’s important to note that they are intuitive rather than critical, analytical and not expressive, reflective and active. As a whole humanities look back on our curiosity about our human nature and human culture creation. The other importance of humanities is that they are the basis of learning. They involve the study of writing, reading, thinking and language. Branches of Humanities The branches of humanities consist of languages, the arts, literature, philosophy, religion and history. Languages This particular branch of humanities consists of learning the way people communicate in different speaking countries. It brings a sense of culture to individuals as they are likely to be taught the various history and origins of the languages they learn. The Arts The arts consist of theater, music, art and film. They are all mediums of self expression and these courses in particular encourage personal interpretation and analysis. Fine arts courses also come into this category; however, they focus more on the historical forms of art and their origins. Literature Literature refers to novels, short stories, plays and so on. Individuals attempt to decipher the meaning of texts and look into symbolism and themes. Literature courses delve into social aspects that may influence texts. Philosophy and religion These courses study human behavior and the age-old questions such as the meaning of life and the existence of God. They analyze various cultures and their religious beliefs as well as moral codes. History This is arguably the most facts-based course as individuals delve into past events such as war and politics and how societies and cultures have been affected throughout the years. References: http://writing. colostate. edu/guides/teaching/co301aman/pop6b. cfm http://education. blurtit. com/1978174/what-is-humanities-and-its-branches http://www. ask. com/question/importance-of-humanities http://humanitiesforums. org/2012/07/16/the-importance-of-humanities-as-a-discipline/.