micronotes-philosophy-of-humanities

Lecture 2

• What is “humanities”?
  • fields of study that investigate topics concerning human culture, history, society, and experience.
    • literature, philosophy, anthropology, archeology, political or social history, art, music, and languages.
  • historically and systematically explore how humans process and document their experiences and changing environments
  • critical analysis and interpretation of written and non-written sources.
• Where is it practiced?
  • practiced globally.
  • range of institutions and settings: universities, museums, libraries, research institutes, online platforms.
  • internationally connected through research, teaching, writing, publishing, curating…
• How is it practiced?
  • investigate, analyze, interpret texts, artifacts and historical records.
  • discussions surrounding society, culture, history, ethics, identity.
• Philosophical Rationale
  • Humanities is not static, but result of centuries of intellectual evolution.
  • Historical awareness allows scholars to see the discipline’s position within a broader cultural and intellectual tradition.

Antiquity

• The roots of the humanities are in Ancient Greece and Rome
  • Philology and historiography emerged
• Homer - Iliad and Odyssey
  • Early scholars developed techniques for textual analysis to preserve and interpret.
  • Library of Alexandria was a hub for philological activity
  • Aristarchus → Aristotales ile Tarkan karışımı → Critical editions of Homer’s text
• Thucydides - History of Peloponnesian War
  • empirical evidence, eyewitness accounts, critical evaluation of sources, no mythological explanations.
  • analyzed patters of human behavior and motivations → basis for political science and ethics
• Cicero - The Concept of Humanitas
  • the concept includes cultural refinements, education, moral virtue
  • emphasizes rhetoric, critical thinking, intellectual cultivation
  • A WELL ROUNDED INDIVIDUAL

The Middle Ages: Institutionalization of Learning

• Monasteries as Centers of Learning
  • preserved ancient texts through their scriptoria → monks copying manuscripts → trattoria
  • survival of classical works → Aristotle and Cicero
  • Monastic education emphasized literacy and religious study, indirectly supported intellectual pursuits
• Cathedral Schools and the Artes Liberales
  • Artes Liberales is offered by Cathedral Schools:
    • Trivium: Grammar, rhetoric, logic → language and reason
    • Quadrivium: Arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy → understanding the natural world
  • combination of classical traditions with Christian theology → synthesis of faith and reason
• The Rise of Universities
  • Bologna, Paris, Oxford emerged in 12th and 13th centuries
  • formalizes education and research
  • Artes Liberales + law, medicine, theology

Historicization and Authentication

• Analyse objects, texts, within their historical and developmental contexts
  • determine the origins, authenticity, transformation over time
  • questions: “what, why, when, how?”

Self-reflection axes

• Horizontal (Synchronic) — examine contemporary connections and differences among humanities disciplines and other fields like natural sciences
• Vertical (Diachronic) | examine the historical development of humanities practices, institutions, and ideals to understand their present significance
  • Horizontal looks at the horizon, vertical deepens in one area

Ethical and intellectual Virtues

• Truthfulness, critical thinking, intellectual curiosity
• They ensure the humanities’ continues relevance and integrity

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Lecture 3: Expansion and Institutionalization

• Main Question: How these disciplines developed into structured, globally recognized academic fields?

Renaissance: 14-17th century — the age of rebirth

• Revival of interest in classical antiquity
  • Ad Fontes (To the Sources): commitment to revisit classical texts in their original languages.
    • Petrarch and his study of ancient Greek and Roman works
    • textual accuracy and historical understanding
  • Humanist Scholarship: engagement in critical editions of classical texts
    • Erasmus of Rotterdam, Lorenzo Valla
    • philological techniques, works extending beyond literature and include history, ethics, rhetoric
    • influenced modern humanities disciplines
  • Cultural Flourishing: emphasis on individual expression and artistic achievement
    • innovations in visual arts, architecture, literature

Enlightenment: 17-18th — the age of critique

• Brought methodological rigor and philosophical depth to humanities
  • Critical Thinking: emphasizes reason, empirical inquiry, questioning of established norms
  • Systematization of Knowledge: projects like Encyclopedies aimed to compile and categorize human knowledge
    • Diderot and d’Alembert
  • Historical Criticism: critical historiography emphasizes primary sources, contextual analysis, skepticism towards traditional narratives

19th Century: Scholarly Historicism

• Formalization of humanities within public institutions
  • Scholarly Historicism: Emphasized the historical context of cultural artifacts and ideas
    • advanced the understanding of texts, traditions, social practices
  • Academic Structures: dedicated departments for humanities disciplines in universities
    • history, philology, art history
  • Philosophical Foundations: epistemological and methodological underpinnings of humanities, their role in cultural self-awareness and ethical reflection
    • Wilhelm Dilthey, Friedrich Schleiermacher

Key Themes and Methods

• Historicization: Contextualization of objects, texts, practices within their historical frameworks
  • determining origins and authenticity
  • analyzing transformations over time
  • exploring cultural and intellectual continuities and ruptures
• Interdisciplinary Connections: Humanities often intersect with natural and social sciences, shares methodologies
  • Archeology → scientific techniques to analyze artifacts
  • Linguistic → computational tools for language modeling
• Ethical and Intellectual Virtues: Critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, commitment to truth

Impact on Modern Society

• Cultural Preservation: Archives, libraries, museums → cultural heritage
• Public Engagement: social issues → identity, ethics, historical memory
• Global Perspective: expansion beyond Europe and America

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Lecture 4: The humanities within the academy

• Connections with and distinctions from the natural sciences, social sciences, formal sciences.

Overview

• One of the three major academic divisions: Natural sciences, social sciences, humanities

Humanities and Natural Sciences

• Connections:
  • Commitment to truth and Knowledge: reliable knowledge.
    • Natural sciences with empirical observation and experiments
    • Humanities with interpretative analysis
  • Historical Interactions: Archeology, art conservation
  • Humanistic Dimensions of Science: Ethical considerations, historical context, philosophy of science
• Distinctions:
  • Methodology:
    • Humanities — often qualitative
    • Natural sciences — quantitative and empirical
  • Object of Study:
    • Humanities focus → human expression, culture, history
    • Natural sciences → physical and biological phenomena
  • Truth and Interpretation:
    • Scientific: often testable and falsifiable
    • Humanities: involves interpretation, ambiguity, pluralism

Humanities and Social Sciences

• Connections:
  • Common Ground: Both study human behavior, culture, society
  • Methodology Overlap: Anthropology, cultural studies use qualitative approaches
  • Conceptual Influences: theoretical frameworks in social sciences often derived from humanities like philosophy, history, literary studies
• Distinctions:
  • Focus on Interpretation:
    • Humanities prioritize interpretation
    • Social sciences frequently use statistical and experimental techniques
  • Nature of Inquiry:
    • Humanities questions → meaning, aesthetics, ethics
    • Social sciences → causality and human behavior

Humanities and Formal Sciences

• Mathematics, logic
  • Abstract reasoning: axiomatic systems, logical deduction, not empirical
  • Interdisciplinary Contributions have impact on linguistic analysis, computational humanities, logic in philosophy

Humanities and Engineering Sciences

• Human Centered Design: Engineering incorporates ethical, aesthetic, cultural considerations from humanities
• Digital Humanities: The integration of computational methods

Why academic disciplines are categorized in such a way?

• Historical development → Tripartite division emerged in 19th century
• Normative considerations → Classification reflects institutional and epistemic priorities
• Interdisciplinary Perspectives → Rigid boundaries are challenged by these

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