humanities subjects

humanities subjects

The Relevance and Impact of Humanities Subjects in the Modern World

1. Introduction to Humanities Subjects

In this context, it should be noted that employed graduates in the UK, with the exception of those graduating in medicine and dentistry, still achieve the highest lifetime earnings premium, with students of architecture, the creative arts, history, and philosophy doing particularly well. Of course, a much broader range of skills and ideas than those that might generate earnings are frequently required in everyday personal and professional life. These subjects also enrich the lives of the non-graduates of the economy, but of more immediate concern to universities is the extent to which reduced high school emphasis and triggering interest in other areas result in the reduction or abandoning of post-compulsory humanities courses.

Humanities subjects may present less immediate top-of-mind importance in our present era than their more numerate and vocationally oriented cousins of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Subjects as diverse as classical studies, art, architecture, literature, languages, and music, amongst others, are pursued in higher education and offer lifelong personal enrichment for many learners. However, critics often claim these subjects are not particularly suited to the modern world or economy in the way other disciplines supposedly are. This small study demonstrates the importance of the humanities at every level of personal and professional life and points out the tendency for logic, critical thinking, mental agility, emotional intelligence, creativity, and active learning, present to a greater or lesser extent in most humanities subjects, to be overlooked and undervalued whilst academic result tables hammer home the worth of STEM subjects.

2. The Historical Evolution of Humanities Disciplines

In the mid-19th century, first in Germany and then in the UK and the United States, there appeared concepts of humanities subjects as important independent disciplines. This gave a beginning to the institutionalization of the humanities as university departments and professorates. Then in the 20th century, the concept of humanities was expanded to streets, theater, and cinema. Now the world’s structural changes have diminished the broadened contextual approach to humanities again and once more focus on the scientific method but without limiting the more narrow inquisition principles.

The tradition of European humanities emerged in the early 15th century during the Renaissance. The original meaning of the term was “knowledge that we strive for human improvement,” embodied in the principle that the goal of learning is preparation for practical life and its achievements. This tradition of understanding the important role of the subject for personal, social, political, and cultural development of a person has been the foundation of curricula and educational priorities almost until the end of the 18th century. Since the 18th century, the concept of the meaning and the value of the humanities has been expanded by the development of natural sciences and technologies and their impact on society.

3. The Role of Humanities in Cultivating Critical Thinking and Empathy

By their very nature, humanities subjects promote cross-disciplinary thinking and will continue to be in the front line of development if interdisciplinary approaches are the future of scientific work, as tends to be the case. Education, in other words, cannot ignore an essential aspect of human life and how it has evolved over time as a basis for future personal and cultural interpretation of reality. Educational institutions, at a tertiary and secondary level, should work to improve the curriculum and its didactic organization in the light of a general requirement of refining students’ social relations in the world and establishing connections between individual spheres and the repercussions of learning in the environments in which these individuals will be inserted.

The relevance and impact of humanities subjects within an educational context, and ultimately upon society, include developing an individual’s moral code and sense of ethics through culture. They also give students the opportunity to approach complex topics from various perspectives, leading them to question the nature behind the study of a subject, the value of the knowledge gained, and their natural curiosity and appreciation of the subject. Also developed through humanities subjects are citizenship qualities, critical thinking, ethics, and empathy, which are crucial in an environment where concepts and moral frontiers are constantly being challenged in all societal areas.

4. Humanities Subjects and Their Contribution to Social Justice and Equity

The transmission of the ideas of liberty, equality, and justice are central to the humanities subjects through the exploration of different political, philosophical, artistic, literary, historical, and cultural traditions worldwide. It may lead students to dip a toe in the waters of radical activism. Indeed, the disciplines of the humanities invite students to critically explore ideas and to think about the world differently from how they think about it. They stimulate open-mindedness and can realize an objective of learning, which is to use their experiences to decide what they do and who they become.

Social justice and equity are major values and principles of the humanities subjects and, indeed, goals of wider society generally. They prescribe actions which could be used to correct historical or present abuses of resources or power—mostly at an individual level. Arriving at a just and equitable society can be achieved through a process that recognizes human agency, empowerment, and the human ability to contribute to cultural and environmental change. People fighting for social justice and equity need the discipline and skills to help them. The humanities equip students to do that.

5. The Future of Humanities Education and Research

The history, culture, customs, languages and literatures of almost all countries would be common sources of interest, but there is nothing particularly requiring that one study these rather than any other sample of expressions of beauty, utility, complexity, purpose or discord. One might be equally drawn by the styles, sounds, structures, messages and developments of music and art, in the same manner as with the products of the humanities, areas apparently more directly critical to general understanding or practice of interaction and self-expression. Those reasoned responses to or interactions with moral, concrete, narrative or inquiry challenges that we carry out in our daily lives, whether in the form of prayers, doctrines, advice, hypotheses, strategies or judicial opinions, are all results of disciplining and learning the processes related to the conduct of human inquiry and creation into our common selves and society, and so do not escape the effects of our accumulating knowledge, methods and applications attendant to any other primary area of interest.

In an age of rapid technological advances and increasing complexity for human society, humanities subject areas are once again relevant and worth defending. This is an age in which the most advanced capabilities are key for economic and individual success, and much of the capacity for using advanced methods to solve key problems is located in technical or scientific disciplines. The power of advanced calculation, statistical methods, simulation and modelling, automation, physical engineering and optimization, and the like have enabled extraordinary developments in practical capabilities. These are the basic drivers of an emergent new era in human affairs whose outlines are breathtaking in terms of the perception of possibly expanded capabilities. And the technical disciplines themselves provide an increasingly sophisticated means by which to carry out these various forms of advanced inquiry.