Intro to Humanities
...uman’s to document life and history, Michaelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel for science and religious purposes, or for more of the mass-produced and inspirational works of present day artist, Thomas Kinkade. All of these forms of expression reflect some sort of culture, history, beliefs and ideas and represent the artistic branch of Humanities. Literature is another branch of Humanities that allows the artist and the reader to create or develop characteristics within themselves. Literature is more than just a text; it has an author, a setting, and an audience. The act of reading goes beyond what’s printed on a page. As readers, we are “drawn into a literary text that is in part the expression of the writer’s times.” The text itself gives us a “self-contained, ordered world where we can recognize characters and situations and see and feel events and times through other’s eyes.” A reader looks for connections between his or her own life and culture and those that are found on the pages of a literary piece. Many works have changed life perspectives as well as choices, which holds true to the “human thought and relations” regarding Humanities in Literature. The same is true of the writer as he or she may evolve along with the character’s he or she relates to or creates. In my opinion, literary works are probably the most influential forms of Humanities. Philosophy, as well, has always had an impact on human development, focusing on our ways of thinking and our attempts “to differentiate between speculative and practical philosophical issues.” From early times, there have been debates on what constitutes a human being; is it our mind, body, soul or all of these and more? Throughout time, philosophers have made us think and question our existence as well as the existence of God. The challenge, as well as in other aspects of Humanities, is to question, explo...