Humanities and arts are an integral and important part of all academic disciplines. It is very important for the academic development of a person. In some western countries, it is imperative for all students to take up some courses in arts. This is regardless of the fact that they might be pursuing an entirely different course of study like perhaps engineering or biology. Arts are vital for the intellectual and aesthetic development and growth of an individual. They also help in widening the imagination of a person.
Thus it’s very important for a person to indulge in the study of arts for his sake. “The humanities are often defined as a group of academic disciplines. The humanities include, but are not limited to, history; literature; philosophy and ethics; foreign languages and cultures; linguistics; jurisprudence or philosophy of law; archaeology; comparative religion; the history, theory, and criticism of the arts; and those aspects of the social sciences (anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science, government, and economics)”. (http://www. mfh. org/foundation/human.
htm) All of these subjects use subjective or qualitative methodology and approach instead of utilising a more objective and numerological approach towards disciplines; academic or otherwise. How Do Humanities And Sciences Differ? Humanities and sciences differ in numerous ways. Firstly, humanities as I mentioned earlier use a more interpretive and subjective approach and methodology while the sciences make use of a more of an objective approach. They conduct laboratory experiments and other forms of statistical research and methods to arrive at conclusions.
Whereas in humanities, a more interactive approach is used to conduct research such as interviews [personalized and non-personalized] and other methods such as participation observation etc. This allows for more personal interaction and closer investigation. These kinds of methods are applied in social sciences to arrive at conclusions. The second difference is that as sciences deal with matter and the physical world. Thus, it is possible in sciences to find definite and objective answers which is not possible with the social sciences or humanities because human nature and civilization undergoes constant change.
The third difference between the two is that the results of scientific experiments do not differ in different environments and geographical regions. But, the results of social sciences experiments will differ with areas and differing cultures because human beings can not have constant and same reactions all the time and under all set of circumstances, How Are Humanities And Sciences Alike? There are few similarities between the humanities and sciences but, nevertheless they are there. The use of critical theory is common in both disciplines.
Also, now more objective methods of research are being used by the scientists in an effort to produce more accurate results. Similarly a more qualitative approach to scientific disciplines is being adopted by contemporary scientists. Thus, universities today are offering courses and conducting workshops like “The Art and Humanity of Engineering’ and the “Intersections in Research between the Arts and Sciences”. How Do Arts And Humanities Differ? In reality, there is no clear-cut distinction between arts and humanities. However, academically the difference is present.
Firstly, humanities basically refer to the academic disciplines of communication, history, language studies literature and philosophy while arts refer to theatre, film, drama, painting sculpture and film. Thus the basic and foremost difference is that the humanities are real academic discipline requiring academic training and including research. However, on the other hand, the arts are basically creative tasks that require no formal training and are devoid of the need for research. One has to come at conclusions when working on a social science project or at least the research has a purpose.
This is not true of the arts in which one could just indulge without a rhyme or reason. How Are Arts And Humanities Similar? As I mentioned earlier, arts and humanities are basically same. They both deal with human nature and are completely subjective. One can not arrive at absolutely accurate conclusions in both arts and humanities and it is impossible to maintain objectivity on arts. Also, arts and humanities are basically subjects that have really wide range and one cannot simply narrow them down or fragment them into categories. Humanities [communication, history, language studies literature and philosophy];
How Are They Like And Unlike Each Other? The main similarity between is that they are all disciplines of humanities. Thus, a subjective approach is used to experiment with them and study them. They are critical subjects and require interactive approach. The difference is that communications deals with media and its forms and impact while history deals with international and national history and how has it affected events. Language studies are the study of modern and contemporary languages and their nuances while literature deals with various literary texts and the literary criticism.
Philosophy is the study of thoughts and ideas and their diagnosis. Arts [Art, Music And Theater-Film]: How Are They Like And Unlike Each Other? The major similarity between all of them is that they are all forms of art and thus are creative tasks that require indulgence and the subject matter and purpose of art is not that important. It could also be indulged in for art’s sake. The difference is that they could be classified into performing and non-performing. Performing arts are theater and film while painting and music are non-performing. Film is an audio-visual medium.
References Critical theory – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory