This document defines the humanities and outlines an introductory course on the subject. It explains that the humanities include subjects like history, literature, philosophy, and the visual and performing arts. Studying the humanities allows us to learn from past cultural achievements and helps with survival, community, self-knowledge, and the development of society. The course will cover the history of humanities from prehistory through the medieval period in different world civilizations. It will examine how art and culture reflect changing views of nature, society, and the individual over time.

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HUMANITIES
HUM/100 – INTRO TO THE HUMANITIES I
THE ANCIENT WORLD TO MEDIEVAL TIME
PROF. FRANCISCO PESANTE-GONZALEZ

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Objectives
• Differentiate between the humanities and various other
modes of human inquiry and expression.
• Identify examples of art, music, architecture, philosophy, and
literature that reflect current developments in politics,
socioeconomic status, and technology.

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What are the humanities?

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Why should we study humanities?
• Cultural legacy: Ideas and achievements handed down from
generation to generation
• They established the ways of living collectively.
• Survival
• Communality
• Self-knowledge
• Creation and transition of scientific and technological tools, social and
cultural institution,religious and philosophic systems, as well as personal
expressions

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Tools for approaching the cultural legacy
• Text
• Medium, Form and Content
• Context
• Time and place
• Subtex
• Emotional and intellectual messages embedded in the cultural
manifestations.

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Academic Branches of the Humanities
 History
 Literature
 Philosophy
 Performing Arts
 Visual Arts

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Academic Branches of the Humanities
 History
 Political
 Economic
 Social
 Cultural
 Conditioned by its geographical reference, focus, and period.

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Academic Branches of the Humanities
 Literature
 Drama
 Novel
 Short Story
 Poetry

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Academic Branches of the Humanities
 Philosophy
 Aesthetics
 Epistemology
 Ethics
 Logic
 Metaphysics

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Academic Branches of the Humanities
 Performing Arts
 Dance
 Music
 Drama

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Academic Branches of the Humanities
 Visual Arts
 Drawing
 Painting
 Printmaking
 Photography
 Ceramics
 Sculpture
 Film?
 Architecture?

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Course Overview
1. Prehistory, Mesopotamia, and Egypt
2. The ClassicalTradition: Greece and Rome
3. Early China and Ancient India
4. The Flowering of Religion: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and
Buddhism
5. The Medieval World

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Discussion Questions
• Why should we study humanities?
• What do we mean by culture?
• How are art and culture reflective of our changing concepts
of nature, society, and the individual?

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References:
Fiero, G. K. (2011).The humanistic tradition, Book 3:The
European renaissance, the Reformation, and the global
encounter (6th. Ed). NewYork, NY: McGraw Hill.
Sherman, D & Salisbury, J. (2008). Civilizaciones de occidente.
Vol I hasta 1715. México: McGraw Hill.