Humanities - Classical Oxford English Dictionary (OED) dates the term 'humanities' to the later 15th century. The classic definition is literary learning or scholarship. The writing of secular letters ('humane letters') as opposed to theology. The study of ancient Latin and Greek language, literature and intellectual culture (grammar, rhetoric, history and philosophy). The Humanities uses a critical or analytical approach to study the human condition. By employing 'critical thinking' the humanities study the meaning-making practices of human culture. There’s a saying that goes “knowledge cumulates in the sciences, but not in the humanities.” The physicist-novelist C.P. Snow famously spoke of two cultures, one the world of scientists and the other the world of ‘literary intellectuals’ – the humanists. In short, knowledge of the physical world verses knowledge of the spirit or mind. In the interpretations of literary texts or historical materials, knowledge does not cumulate – there is an ongoing conversation that never (in principle) ends. This is one of the benefits of the humanities – people talking with other people. In 'The Value of the Humanities' (2013), Ms. Helen Small, Professor of English, Oxford University, further illuminates the qualities of the humanities: "...to value qualitiative above quantitative reasoning; their distrust of proceduralism; their greater faith in interpretative than in positivistic thinking; their orientation as much toward historical analysis as toward synchronic structural analysis; and their attention to the role of perceiver in ascertaining even the most philosophically secure of knowledge claims; (relatedly) their interest in the specificity of the individual response (its content and its style) over and above the generalized or collective response, and their concern with what can be known or understood even though it is incapable of empirical verification." In general, the utilitarian point of view (POV) is that the natural and social sciences are the basis for all true knowledge. That the humanities are in a different class and thus cannot be judged against the ‘utilitarian’ disciplines. Professor Small attempts to bridge the humanities (‘Goodness’) with sciences (‘Truth’) by using a truth claim sequence: Rightness > Coherence > Validity > Correctness (eg, most natural scientists trust only 'validity' and 'correctness'; social scientists only 'coherence' and 'validity'). Languages (400) Literature (800) Philosophy (100) History (900) Religion (200)
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