http://shc.stanford.

edu/why-do-humanities-matter

Why do the humanities matter?

Insights Into Everything
Through exploration of the humanities we learn how to think creatively and
critically, to reason, and to ask questions. Because these skills allow us to gain new
insights into everything from poetry and paintings to business models and politics,
humanistic subjects have been at the heart of a liberal arts education since the
ancient Greeks first used them to educate their citizens.
Understanding Our World
Research into the human experience adds to our knowledge about our world.
Through the work of humanities scholars, we learn about the values of different
cultures, about what goes into making a work of art, about how history is made.
Their efforts preserve the great accomplishments of the past, help us understand
the world we live in, and give us tools to imagine the future.
Bringing Clarity to the Future
Today, humanistic knowledge continues to provide the ideal foundation for exploring
and understanding the human experience. Investigating a branch of philosophy
might get you thinking about ethical questions. Learning another language might
help you gain an appreciation for the similarities in different cultures. Contemplating
a sculpture might make you think about how an artist's life affected her creative
decisions. Reading a book from another region of the world, might help you think
about the meaning of democracy. Listening to a history course might help you
better understand the past, while at the same time offer you a clearer picture of the
future.

What are the humanities?

The humanities can be described as the study of how people process and document
the human experience. Since humans have been able, we have used philosophy,
literature, religion, art, music, history and language to understand and record our
world. These modes of expression have become some of the subjects that
traditionally fall under the humanities umbrella. Knowledge of these records of
human experience gives us the opportunity to feel a sense of connection to those
who have come before us, as well as to our contemporaries.

http://www.units.miamioh.edu/technologyandhumanities/humanitiesdefinition.htm

What Are The Humanities?

In its definition of the humanities, Congress includes:
Archaeology
Comparative Religion
Ethics
History
Languages & Linguistics
Literature
Jurisprudence
Philosophy
History, Theory, and Criticism of the Arts
Aspects of the Social Sciences Which Use Historical or Philosophical Approach
Humanities, General and Interdisciplinary
The humanities are the stories, the ideas, and the words that help us make sense of
our lives and our world. The humanities introduce us to people we have never met,
places we have never visited, and ideas that may have never crossed our minds. By
showing how others have lived and thought about life, the humanities help us
decide what is important in our own lives and what we can do to make them better.
By connecting us with other people, they point the way to answers about what is
right or wrong, or what is true to our heritage and our history. The humanities help
us address the challenges we face together in our families, our communities, and as
a nation.
The humanities should not be confused with "humanism," a specific philosophical
belief, nor with "humanitarianism," the concern for charitable works and social
reform.

As fields of study, the humanities emphasize analysis and exchange of ideas rather
than the creative expression of the arts or the quantitative explanation of the
sciences.
1. History, Anthropology, and Archaeology study human social, political, and
cultural development.
2. Literature, Languages, and Linguistics explore how we communicate with
each other, and how our ideas and thoughts on the human experience are
expressed and interpreted.
3. Philosophy, Ethics, and Comparative Religion consider ideas about the
meaning of life and the reasons for our thoughts and actions.
4. Jurisprudence examines the values and principles which inform our laws.
5. Historical, Critical, and Theoretical Approaches to the Arts reflect upon and
analyze the creative process.

As defined by Lyn Maxwell White, "The Humanities," in Handbook of the

Undergraduate Curriculum: A Comprehensive Guide to Purposes,
Structures, Practices, and Change, eds. Jerry G. Gaff, James L. Ratcliff, et.
al. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997), 262-279.
Disciplines of the humanities such as philosophy, history, and literary studies offer
models and methods for addressing dilemmas and acknolwedging ambiguity and
paradox. They can help us face the tension between the concerns of individuals and
those of groups and promote civil and informed discussion of conflicts, placing
current issues in historical perspective. They also give voice to feeling and artistic
shape to experience, balancing passion and rationality and exploring issues of
morality and value. The study of the humanities provides a venue in which the
expression of diddering interpretations and experiences can be recognized and
areas of common interest explored. (263)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-ernst-prey/the-value-and-importance_b_5788116.html
A number of my summer conversations have centered around the importance of the
arts and the humanities. I spoke with my friend Dr. Mitchell B. Reiss, the President of
Washington College, about the humanities and arts as an essential part of a college
curriculum. He was the President's Special Envoy to the Northern Ireland Peace
Process from 2003-2007, when we made historic progress towards ending the

"Troubles" and realizing the promise of the Good Friday Agreement as well as
Director of the Office of Policy Planning for Secretary Colin L. Powell, from 20032005. He will become the President and CEO of The Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation later this fall.
Why are you a strong advocate for the arts?
Most of us consider the arts to include the literary arts: fiction, creative nonfiction,
essays and poetry; the performing arts, such as dance, theater and film; and the
visual arts, which include painting, sculpture, mixed media and installation art. The
arts encompass a broader spectrum of our lives.
At Washington College, we believe the education we provide our students is far
more than just career prep for their first job. We challenge our students to develop
life-long skills such as analytical thinking, clarity in written and spoken expression,
collaboration, and creativity. These skills can all be developed through the arts and
are valuable in any career.
Just as importantly, we believe that our mission is to help students prepare for a
rich, meaningful and engaged life that goes well beyond job titles and salary levels.
Exposure to and understanding of the arts is key to developing qualities of
responsible citizenship.
Would you elaborate?
A lot of what artists do is tell stories. They help us make sense of our world, and
they broaden our experience and understanding. The arts enable us to imagine the
unimaginable, and to connect us to the past, the present, and the future,
sometimes simultaneously.
Great literature, films and visual art transport us to different places and cultures;
great art even allows us to see ourselves and our own community through a
different lens. To see King Lear performed on stage helps us confront our own
complicated family dynamics. Likewise, if we study the faces captured in Dorothea
Lange's black and white portraits from the 1930s and 1940s, we can better
empathize with those who endured the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
I've heard biographer and journalist Walter Isaacson say that science can give us
empirical facts and try to tie them together with theories, but it's the humanists and
the artists who turn them into narratives with moral, emotional and spiritual
meanings. He's right, of course. Art gives meaning to the data science provides.
As a former diplomat, Ambassador and professor of international relations, I agree
with Cornell University president David Skorton that, "our nation's future may
depend on our creativity and our ability to understand and appreciate the cultures
around the world as much as on our proficiency in reading and math."

What are your thoughts on STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Math)

vs. STEAM (inserting the Arts)?
We need both. And ideally, we need STEM grads who have integrated the arts into
their scientific studies and artists who understand the sciences. This is one reason
why we are promoting greater interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teaching and
learning; it is a complex world and we need to understand the interconnections
between and among science, the arts and humanities.
For example, Steve Jobs loved to talk about the intersection of technology and the
humanities, which include the arts. In 2010, while introducing the iPad, he said "It's
in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with
liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our
hearts sing."
Throughout history, our greatest inventors and scientists have merged scientific
knowledge and discovery with artistic creativity. For example Albert Einstein studied
piano and violin as a child and, when he was an adult, music helped him think
things through. When he was having trouble with a scientific theory, he would strike
a few chords on the piano or pick up the violin and play, and that would often free
up a constructive thought or solution. He stressed the importance of the creative
mind, once saying, "I'm enough of an artist to draw freely on my imagination, which
I think is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination
encircles the world."
I was fortunate to have a mother who was Head of the Design Department
at Pratt Art Institute in New York City and a great artist herself, so I grew
up appreciating the importance of creativity and imagination. As a
member appointed by the President of the United States to the National
Council on the Arts, the Advisory Board to the National Endowment for the
Arts, I am a strong advocate for the arts. As a college President what
would you tell parents who might not share this view?
Companies and organizations that want to stay globally competitive realize they
need employees who are multi-disciplinary, creative thinkers able collaborate with
other team members. Those qualities are at the heart of staging a play or
performing in a jazz quartet. Like the liberal arts in general, training in the arts
improves our ability to pull together and synthesize seemingly disparate ideas and
information into a coherent and meaningful whole. Further, taking a studio art
course or studying art history helps build an aesthetic sensibility that can influence
other areas of thinking. The Conference Board, an independent association that
provides its members with business and economic research, has reported that
creativity is among the top five applied skills sought by business leaders
Beyond that, your resume and job interview will reflect a broader understanding of
what it means to be cultured and cosmopolitan; really, what it means to be fully
human. Every business needs people who understand the big picture and who can

communicate effectively about its mission and values.

Anything else you would like to mention?
I consider myself one of the least artistically talented people on the planet, but I
love the arts! Even those of us who can't put oil to canvas, hold a note or write a
sonnet can appreciate and learn from the artist's interpretation of the human
experience. At their best, the arts strike a universal chord that suggests that we are
not alone in our experience of joy, or grief, or courage. Studying the arts in college
prepares the person for a lifetime of pleasure and appreciation, of being open to
new experiences and of becoming that ideal every liberal arts college strives to
produce--a life-long learner.